Would You Sell Your Soul
by causealittletrouble
Summary: Set within season 2. The tomb vampires have been taken care of but Katharine is still causing trouble, enough trouble that Stefan calls in reinforcements from an old friend whom he has not seen in a long time. Who is she? Can Elena trust her? Will she be able to help? Or will her past become the breaking point? "I never thought I'd go back" *New Character
1. Chapter 1

**So, I have been away for a loonnnnng time. I also have a bad reputation for not finishing stories or not finishing them well. My pattern has been to have a decent idea and I just run out of steam and don't think it through to the end. So for that, you all have my deepest apologies and I do not recommend that you explore my other stories. Now, on this note, I have had this idea for a few years actually. And I know my own pattern and as I began the story I decided not to publish it because I knew the likelihood of actually ending was small. So I continued to write this on my own time and sometimes took months off without writing.**

 **Here comes the happy news, after I don't know how long I actually finished it! And I was still wary about publishing it because I have spent so much time on it and would hate it if readers hated it. But I thought that maybe, just maybe, some readers may enjoy it and that would make me feel accomplished. So please I hope you like this story.**

 **A few notes, I do not own these characters from the TV show (obviously) and the main character in my story actually does not exist so don't try to find her anywhere else. Next, this is a mature story so please be aware of that, I will provide warning when lemons are coming if you wish to scroll past them.**

 **This takes place in season two of Vampire Diaries so I am about to take you way back...enjoy!**

She looked over the letter for the fifth time, stopping at the ninth word "You know I wouldn't ask unless I had to…" Tossing the letter on her espresso stained coffee table she jolted up with enough grace to not spill red wine on the carpet. The young woman took delicate sips of the ruby liquid while staring at the piece of paper whose words seemed to taunt her. Over the past decade she had been writing back and forth with him, nothing serious or specific at first, just pleasantries between old friends brought on by guilt. As the resentment slid away memories and comfort took its place, sparking the once great friendship.

She knew all about how he returned home, to the place she first met him and things fell apart. He told her even though there are painful memories buried in that land; the place will always be his home. She knew all about the dilemma that was going on over there and thought many times, through many letters, that she would go and help any way she could. If she were asked of course, even though she hoped she never would be. But now, now the plea was gazing up at her in elegant script that did not reveal the severity of the situation. "Fuck" she muttered, downing the rest of her wine, folding the letter and rapidly dialing on her cell phone.

"Hello?" A groggy voice interrupted the previous silence.

"Delilah, I am sorry to call so early" The young woman sweetly apologized to her assistant, doing her best to hide her brewing frustration.

"No, no worries Ms. what can I do for you? " Delilah asked, the sound of rustling sheets being heard through the phone, indicating that she was getting Delilah's full attention.

"I need you to book the first flight out to Richmond, Virginia. One way, preferably before the afternoon" The woman instructed, staring at the return address on the envelope.

"Virginia? But, Miss you have a meeting in a few hours with the gentleman from Transylvania."

"This is more important, please reschedule the meeting and apologize for the inconvenience"

"They will not be happy." Delilah slowly exclaimed as she wrote down her instructions so she would not forget in her sleepy daze.

"If they express their disappointment remind them they may seek their service elsewhere, and to not seek mine again for the future." The woman grinned to herself "See if they give you trouble if they think they will be on my shit list. And you call me the minute they begin to be difficult Delilah"

"Yes, Miss."

"Now go back to sleep, I am sorry I disturbed you. But, please do not forget about my flight. It is important that I get there as soon as possible"

"Yes Miss, I will email you the details. Would you like a car to pick you up when you get there?"

"Just the car, I do not need the driver. Something fast."

"Of course" With that the young woman hung up the phone, poured another glass of wine and begun to pack.

The young woman zipped up her final bag; confident she remembered everything she would possibly need. Picking up her blinking phone she read the forwarded email from Delilah telling her the flight would take off at 7am. Glancing at the clock that read 3am she decided she had enough time for a shower, hoping the warm water would relax her muscles.

She walked into her spacious white and teal accented bathroom, tossing her old sweats as she made her way toward the shower. She always loved the water, and living in the city the closest she got was her shower. The wall-to-wall polished tile was her little heaven in her personal hell, it was something she splurged on when buying the apartment. The landlord was at first not happy to have construction in a rented place, but she put a stop to that quickly.

With her forehead pressed against the cool wall, she let the water fall over her shoulders, watching it drip around her feet. "I never thought I'd go back" she murmured to herself. Unlike him, Mystic Falls was not her home; the place could have burned to the ground all those years ago. But she could never say no to helping one of her boys, and he knew that even though his words were true. He wouldn't have asked unless there was no other option.

She slammed her hand against the tile in anger of her situation, caving in the stone and causing some to fall to the floor. "Fuck" She said again, turning off the water and yanking a towel from the rack. She grabbed her phone off the counter and texted Delilah to contact her contractor to have her shower fixed by the time she got back. She also sent a little bonus into Delilah's account for having to deal with the Transylvanians.

Quickly drying her bangs and throwing the rest of her auburn hair up in a bun, she applied minimal makeup and left the bathroom. She put on a pair of leggings and a breezy white button up shirt that hung loosely on her toned frame. Finally, she put on all of her rings and tall combat boots, grabbed her bags and walked out of her apartment, the clock read 5am.

"Good morning Miss, you are awake early! I did not know you were traveling, didn't you just get back?" The pleasant doorman asked as he grabbed some bags from her shoulders.

"Good morning Manny." She smiled sweetly relinquishing the extra weight. "You know me, always on the road! I am not sure how long I will be, if you wouldn't mind forwarding my mail to Delilah I would really appreciate it."

"Will do" Manny agreed as he opened the door to the cab then went to go put the bags in the trunk. "You have a safe trip"

"Thank you, I will be sure to grab something for your daughter, her birthday is coming up isn't it?" She asked through the window.

"It is, but you don't need to do that!" The young woman waved it off, Manny was a nice man with a young daughter who was his world and kept no less than ten photos on him at all times.

"You know I will anyway" She had made a habit of picking up a little something the girl would like on her trips. It helped her forget what she was always leaving for and gave her something to look forward to. The cab drove off in the direction of the airport; she laid her head back and could hear the ticking of her watch counting down to the inevitable.

 **I know, not very specific, who is this woman? We don't know yet so don't feel lost. Please review and tell me what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I know I know, already two chapters but personally i think it is hard to gage a story on one chapter**

She stepped out of the airport to the bright day, sliding her red sunglasses over her adjusting eyes. "Hello Virginia" she sighed and she walked to the rented cars lot, finding space 62 and the black BMW sitting and waiting. Pushing the engine button she sped out of the parking lot and toward the source of her problem. She opened the windows and turned the radio on loud enough to drown out her thoughts. She was here to help a friend, he reached out for business purposes and there was no need to look at it as anything more than that. Get in, fix the problem, and get out. Then she can go back to exchanging letters with a ghost of her past.

Her GPS lead her to the destination she had never been to. He told her the original property was taken over by the elements and the family built a new mansion, which was used as a boarding house for some time. This she knew and much more, she never went into a job without doing some digging.

She pulled into her destination, a large property with a cottage type exterior and many chimneys; it was anything but a cottage. She left her car and just stared at the monstrosity, they never did do subtle, she thought with a small smile. Leaving the car and her bags in the driveway she made her way to the front door of the seemingly empty house. She knocked first and stood for a second, waiting for an answer that never came. Then trying the knob and finding it locked, what vampire locks their door? She shrugged and pulled out two small tools from her right boot and proceeded to unlock the door. After a second the door swung open, she returned the tools to their home and walked in.

Looking around she noticed that wood was clearly the theme, "Ironic" she muttered. And thought the whole place needed to be reviewed by the historic society and cleaned out. She approached a drink cart near a set of couches and ran her finger over the crystal smiling at the cool touch. Pouring herself a splash of the amber colored liquid she kept inspecting the living room, trying to keep herself busy.

She read the titles of the books, fingered the dust on the mantel, and may have opened a few drawers. She was on her second glass of scotch when she heard the gravel move outside. Her heart started moving faster until she took a deep breath and put on her stone face muttering another quiet "Fuck".

"Whose car is that?" A girl's voice asked as the gravel stopped moving, most likely inspecting the foreign car.

"I'm not sure" A male's voice answered, one she knew well. "Stay out here with Caroline while I check it out."

"Who breaks into a vampire's home?" Another, higher pitched voice asked, making the young woman inside smirk and take another sip of the burning liquid.

The sound of moving gravel was getting louder, till it turned into the thump of steps, which paused at the door. The knob slowly turned and the door was pushed open. The young woman put her glass down and hid behind a column as the steps came closer. The man's instincts took over; someone was trespassing in his home. He used his vampire speed to grab the flesh that belonged to the calm heartbeat. A slender hand grabbed his wrist, twisted him around and pushed his face into the column, arm locked behind his back. "Is that any way to greet an old friend Stefan?" A soft voice whispered.

Stefan relaxed, he hadn't heard that voice in years, but he would recognize it anywhere. "Kate?" He whispered back, craning his neck to try and see her.

"You're rusty" Was her short answer as she let go and took a step back. The man that turned to face her had familiar green eyes laced worry and stress. His hair was the same sandy blond and he carried more tension in his shoulders. Far from the man he was in the 20s and further from the boy she first met.

He was silent as he took her in, a tall strong women wearing modern clothes he would have never pictured her in. Her brown eyes were bright but hard and her hair was different, a holding a bit of red in the rays of the sun,with bangs that framed her eyes. Without a word he enveloped her in a hug, lifting her feet off the ground and earning a laugh. "Kate!" he said louder.

She could hear two more sets of feet approaching the living room as he put her down. "You look great! This era suits you, not that any era didn't" He continued, hands on her shoulders. She brought him in for another hug with a huge smile on her face.

"You look great too! I've missed you Sef." She said honestly, tears in her eyes.

"Stefan, who's this?" a girl asked. Kate looked up and saw the dark face of a beautiful girl, with styled brown hair and a bohemian type outfit. Kate could sense the girl was not human, witch maybe?

Stefan stepped back from Kate, allowing her to face the two girls fully, "Kate this is Bonnie; Bonnie this is Kate, a very old friend" He introduced with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Bonnie" She repeated. Kate cocked her head and look at the girl's outstretched hand. She wasn't human, that much Kate could tell, and witches had a big thing with shaking hands to get a read on someone 'not today witchy" Kate thought and returned the smile, ignoring the girl's hand.

Kate laughed lightly, got over herself and wrapped the girl in a small hug, taking Bonnie by surprise. "Its nice to meet Stef's friends!" She said lightly as she let go. "And such pretty ones too, you being a player Stef?" Stefan shook his head while wearing a huge grin, "Who is your other friend?" She asked turning toward the perfectly put together blond.

"Caroline, one of Bonnie's best friends and will rip your heart out if you even look at her wrong." Caroline sternly said hands crossed and wearing, what Kate assumed to be, an intimidating face. Kate could tell she was a young vampire, very young.

Kate smirked and let out a bit of a laugh "I will take note of that Caroline, nice to meet you too. It's good to be protective of your friends. But don't be so eager to run into a fight with someone you know nothing about, it will get you killed." She said more seriously.

"So," Stefan intercepted the conversation "I see you already have a drink, why don't we all sit-down and we can talk?" He offered and led them to the living room. Kate took a chair and Caroline took another, looking at the new girl through the corner of her eye.

"How do you two know each other? Sorry, but Stefan has never mentioned you." Bonnie asked awkwardly.

"No? Thanks Stef!" Kate said sarcastically, this did not really surprise her.

Stefan waved her off "Kate and I knew each other back when I was still human. She was a nurse during the Civil War and spent some time in town on her leave, my father put her up once." Stefan answered shortly.

"Yup, I got Stefan into all sorts of trouble during my time here, one time I got him to steal his father's horse. Breaking the rule was not to be done" Kate said in a ladylike tone.

"I only _borrowed_ father's horse because you took mine and were racing Damon in the middle of the night." Stefan defended

"Sure, sure, borrowed. No one made you follow us on your father's stallion."

"Well, I wasn't going to stick around when he found that we finished the last of his port." Stefan laughed "And that stallion wasn't tamed yet, I was almost killed!"

Kate threw her head back with laughter "I forgot about that! You fell ass first in a huge mud puddle" She exclaimed through gasping breaths "You fell face first trying to get up!" A pillow hitting her face shut her up.

"Again, your fault," Stefan said shooting a giggling Caroline and Bonnie a nasty look.

"So you were human with Stefan?" Caroline asked

"Nope," Kate answered, popping the P. Her eyes shot to the direction of the door as she heard tires coming up the gravel. Her slightly wide eyes glanced at Stefan, while he quickly excused himself. "I was not human at the same time Stefan was." Kate offered again looking at Caroline.

"So you're a vampire?" Bonnie asked, to which Kate shrugged and made an 'eh' sound. Noticing Kate's uncomfortable posture she asked for another funny story from Stefan's human days, to which Kate went off about how she got Stefan and Damon to run out of their house in nothing but their long johns during one of their father's parties, and made a note to get a read from her later.

Stefan exited the house; leaving the three girls to chat and regretting allowing her the ability to embarrass him, he closed the door behind him. He watched as his brother got out of his blue Camaro placing his Oakley sunglasses on his head. Damon gave the BMW a curious look, "do we have company?" He asked making his way to the front door and his waiting brother.

Stefan walked towards him, away from the house. "I am sorry, I should have warned you, but we really need the help." He rambled not meeting Damon's eyes.

"As much as I love seeing you uncomfortable, what the hell are you talking about?" Before Stefan could answer his vampire hearing picked up on the musical laugh from his past. He watched as his brother's face became blank, eyes wide and nose flare, ice blue flicked to him for a second before Damon pushed passed him into the house.

"Sorry…" Stefan muttered and followed his brother into their home. He stopped behind Damon as he stared at the woman in the chair, his chair. He scanned her up, starting from her hard knee high combat boots, to the legs that had leggings painted on them, and the white shirt that sat on her frame perfectly. Freshly red painted nails circled a crystal, almost empty, glass. Her hair was neat and messy, framing honey brown eyes sitting above berry colored lips that offered a small smile.

"Kate…" Damon whispered and almost growled, standing like an arrow that had been sitting on its string for too long. Bonnie and Caroline turned to see the new comer, both not knowing what Damon would do to the visitor.

"Damon" She answered back, almost cold, as she finished the last of her glass. Without another word, Damon turned on his heels and walked out of the house. The wheels of his Camaro could be heard kicking up gravel as it left the property. "That went better than expected" She assessed, leaning back in her chair, massaging the back of her neck.

"What the hell was that?" Caroline asked

"We didn't depart our last meeting on good terms" Kate offered. She stood up quickly, "Stefan can you help me with my bags in the car?" When all of her things were in one of the spare rooms she closed the door and put her forehead against it "you didn't tell him?" When there was no answer she whipped around "You didn't tell him!"

"I didn't know how." Stefan offered, shrugging his shoulders.

"Damn it Stefan! You don't exactly tell me in any of your letters, even though I assumed and you ask me to come help you and don't tell your brother I was coming? Damn it!" Kate seethed

"Sorry, I know it was poor planning."

"Right, I have so much I want to yell at you for, but your friends are downstairs. I gotta unpack anyway and need to clear my head."

"I was gonna take them home, I do need to speak with you and let you meet everyone, they should come by tomorrow afternoon. Till then relax, make yourself at home." Stefan kissed Kate on the cheek, squeezed her arm gently "I'll be back to take you to dinner" and walked out of the room. Kate flopped down on the bed with a groan and closed her eyes.

 **everyone is reacquainted! How do you all feel about the meeting between Kate and her boys? What's with Damon?**

 **Review if you would like, I would appreciate it!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I hope those of you who have found my story are enjoying it! I have found a problem with having so much already written, I want to post the entire thing at once! But I guess I am supposed to keep people wanting, keeping readers on the edge of their seats in anticipation, "when will she post next?" Well the answer to that is now...one chapter at a time**

Stefan took the stairs two at a time, making his way back to the living room. He knew he should have told Damon that Kate was coming to help them, hell and living under their roof. But he didn't exactly know how to tell him. Stefan knew they hadn't had any contact in a few decades and had no idea how this meeting was gonna go. So he just decided to let it be a surprise instead of dealing with it. 'Oops' he thought as he rounded the corner to the living room.

"Where's Kate?" Caroline asked almost sincerely.

"She is unpacking, she had a long trip and mentioned something about taking a nap." Stefan answered, picking up his keys "Ready to go?"

The two girls got up and grabbed their purses; Bonnie stopped in front of Stefan looking up at him seriously "Can we trust her?"

"Yes, Kate is a good person, she may be unconventional, but she is here to help and is loyal to the core."

"She didn't let me read her, I could tell she knew I was a witch but did not offer any security." Bonnie remained unconvinced

"She is a very private person," Stefan answered simply

"As long as she doesn't cause more trouble" Caroline piped in, walking toward the door. "And what was that thing with Damon? I've never seen him so angry to see someone."

"Like she said, they didn't leave on great terms, and they are both very private people." Stefan clipped, suddenly sullen. The two girls decided it was better to drop the topic of the young stranger and got in the car.

Kate watched them drive away from the guest window, grateful toward Stefan's defense of her. Even though she was older and stronger, Stefan always tried to protect her, almost a big brother role. She missed that.

She decided before she unpacked she would take a shower, get the airport off of her and took a towel next to her bed and headed toward the hallway. The first door she tried was a linen closet but found the slightly out of date bathroom on her next try. Surprisingly something this simple made her homesick and she wanted to go home to her own shower. She washed quickly, not finding any pleasure in the outdated bathroom.

Towel around her she reentered her temporary bedroom, it had a full-size bed with clean white sheets, equally white comforter and an empty dresser. The room was freshly dusted and still smelled a bit like cleaner. Stefan must have been pretty confident that she was going to come, she thought as she opened the window to air out the room.

She threw a robe that she found in the bathroom on and wrapped her hair in the towel as she began to unpack. She had a few suitcases and decided to start with the folded hanging one that had her fancy enough dresses, Stefan wrote in a few of his letters that the Mayor enjoyed throwing parties. Then she emptied her folded clothes into the awaiting drawers and lined her shoes at the end of her bed. Her last black bag she sat in her nightstand to keep easy access.

When she was unpacked enough she quickly blew out her hair so it was at least not dripping wet and crawled into bed. After spending two hours in bed with no luck she got up and got dressed. She opted for some dark jeans, her boots, and a flowy pale blue tank top. She left her hair down and put on a bit of makeup before she decided to go downstairs and snoop a bit. Before going downstairs she rummaged through her bathroom bag and grabbed some nail polish, if she was going to be in this house alone she may as well try and relax.

When she was downstairs she started looking through the refrigerator looking for some lunch. Not finding what she was looking for she opened her senses and followed them to a tucked away door to the basement. Making note of the creepy dungeon style basement she closed in on a large cooler against the wall. Throwing the lid open she found what she was looking for, dozens of packaged rubies were staring at her. She should have known they would have been stocked and grabbed a packet of AB positive and made her way back upstairs. She tore the bag open and poured the contents into a mug to put in the microwave, cold blood was like sludge that came out in slightly congealed globs.

After the buzzer went off she took a sip of the warm liquid, it wasn't enough to fully satisfy her but it was enough to get by. She felt her face tighten under instinct and made her way to grab her purse, taking another sip. From her purse she pulled out a small velvet bag and took one of the green capsules that remained. Her face instantly relaxed as she gently shook the bag to figure how many were left. She was getting low and would have to take some time to get another supply. She could take a day trip to Georgia soon when she had some down time.

She took her mug and went back into the living room, plopping on the chair from before. She took off her shoes and started painting her toenails with the blue polish trying to not think of anything in particular. After she was done she rested both feet on the coffee table and finished her meal.

Across the room, she saw a picture sitting on a shelf and took off to grab it, careful not to mess up her toes. Looking back at her was Stefan, bright smile, next to the face she hated for years staring gleefully back at her. Kate's jaw tightened and she held the picture at arm's length, letting out a growl.

"It's not what you think," Stefan whispered to her, from behind her. Kate did not notice his arrival and turned toward him, picture still in hand. She stared at her old friend in betrayed disbelief.

"This is your girlfriend you've been telling me about?! Fucking Katherine?" Kate growled again gripping the frame. "I swear to fucking god Stef you better have a damn good explanation or you better start running."

Stefan cringed at Kate's anger and dilating eyes, taking a careful step forward to grab the picture. "This is Elena, not Katherine. She's human" Kate looked at the picture and back at Stefan, letting out a nervous laugh.

"This is the doppelganger?" Stefan nodded "This is why you need my help?"

"Well the most immediate help is with Katherine, she has been causing too much trouble and we want her gone." Stefan clarified

"This is so fucked up Stef." Kate pushed passed him to go sit down, head in hands. "Katherine ruined you and your brother, now you are dating her carbon copy, and the original is back, and you want to kill her? So you called me to come and help since I am so good at making unwanted people go away?" She accused, it was true, it's what she did, but this was hitting pretty close to the belt.

"Elena is nothing like Katherine," Stefan said softly, sitting next to his friend and placing a comforting arm around her shoulder. Kate scoffed "It's true, she is sweet, loyal, puts others first, she is kinda like you in that way."

"So she has the face of your old girlfriend but my personality?" Her head shot up staring at Stefan with hard eyes, "Fucking great!" She took a deep breath and massaged the back of her neck, "I am sure she is great, and as long as she treats you the way you deserve I have no problem with her."

Stefan pulled her into a hug "Thank you, I don't know what I would do if you didn't give her a chance."

"Are you happy?" Kate asked seriously, looking into his eyes. He smiled and his eyes lightened like they did when he was a boy.

"I am," He said confidently

"Then that's all I need. When do I meet her?" She asked leaning into Stefan and holding the picture again, trying to get used to the face she had come to hate.

"Actually, it's a little complicated right now." He said slowly "You see, the girl you met today, Caroline has been kinda spying for Katherine. Katherine turned her and threatened her with the safety of her family. So Elena and I are playing break up so Katherine will stop messing with her."

"Of course, playing break up." Kate laughed out "I can help you with the Caroline problem, I'll help her get out from the bitch's clutches" Stefan thanked her and they spent the next few hours talking about the topics from the letters.

 **I doubt Stefan could have run fast enough, nothing more terrifying then pissing off your friend with your stupid dating decisions.**

 **A review will make me happier than staring into beautiful blue eyes on a Saturday morning over mimosas, and that makes me so happy**


	4. Chapter 4

**And now Chapter four, for your reading pleasure**

When the clock read 7 pm the young man spoke up "Let's go get some food, I can take you to the local watering hole." He said as he stood and offered her his hand to pull her up. She quickly pulled on her boots and threw her leather jacket on as he led her out the door. They got into Stefan's car and drove onto the street toward town.

They pulled into the parking lot of Mystic Grill and Kate laughed out a "really?" to which Stefan just shrugged his shoulders and walked toward the door, holding it open for her. The couple walked into the grill, it was a relatively large restaurant containing a bar and a few pool tables. You could tell this was the place everyone hung out, whether you were old enough to drink or not. And sitting at the bar was a pair of broad leather covered shoulders, sipping amber liquid and ignoring a girl who was chatting his ear off. This made Kate smile, reveling in his minor misery.

Stefan led her to a table toward the pool tables and sat down. After taking their order Kate recognized a few voices by the pool tables and followed Stefan's gaze to three girls, the two she met earlier and the one that made her reflexively reach for her butter knife. Stefan put his hand over hers, willing her to relax "That's Elena" He whispered, "We won't be off to a good start if you try to kill her."

Kate let go of the knife and just huffed out a "try?" which earned her a small smile from Stefan.

At the pool tables, Elena could not help but angrily stare at Stefan as he placed his hand affectionately over the strange girl's. Was Stefan on a date? Was this to keep up appearances? "Caroline?" The girl asked over her shoulder to her blond friend, the town gossip. If anyone knew who this girl was it was going to be Caroline. "Who is that with Stefan?"

"Oh, that's Kate, an old friend of his. Bonnie and I met her this morning. She is visiting him. I am not sure for how long or why, but she was at his house this morning. She just let herself in." Caroline explained, rattling off all that she knew without pausing.

"She wouldn't let me read her, but Stefan says she can be trusted, not sure how much I believe that." Offered Bonnie.

Elena watched as the girl motioned toward her with her head and Stefan got up wearing a small smile. Elena's teeth clenched unwillingly. The girl waved over to them and Caroline and Bonnie waved back. As Stefan approached them the girl got up and made her way toward the bar.

After convincing Stefan it was okay to go talk to his girlfriend she made her way to the bar to get a stronger drink than the ice tea she ordered. She glanced at Damon and noticed that girl was still hovering, looking more disappointed by the second. Deciding she would have some fun she made her way over to them, stomping a little along the way.

"Damon fucking Salvatore!" She said angrily, causing both to turn and look at her. "You sleep with me and sneak out before I even wake up? Who the hell does that?" She accused as she got closer, "and where do I find you the next damn day, doing the same thing to this poor girl!" Kate jerked her thumb to the dumb struck girl. Damon was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, not sure what to say. "You could've at least been better, then maybe I wouldn't be so pissed." Kate continued.

Finally the girl muttered that she had to go and walked out the bar. "Damn, I was wondering how far I was gonna have to go before she actually left." Kate laughed, taking the now free seat next to Damon.

Damon glared at her "You lost me dinner and entertainment." He said taking a sip of his drink "You planning on compensating for what you lost me?" He asked smirking at her and checking her out. Kate hit him in the arm and laughed.

"You got plenty of dinner at home and I am sure you won't have trouble finding entertainment, the night is still young." She turned to the bartender "Can I have some tequila on ice with two limes?" The bartender nodded and started preparing her drink. "So…" She awkwardly offered, "Shit, this is weird"

"humph" Damon only said still looking straight ahead

"You didn't say anything to me, you just left" Kate tried again.

"I didn't exactly expect to see you sitting in my chair without a care in the world when I got home." The bartender placed Kate's drink in front of her "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Stefan asked me to come." She said slowly, Damon just glared at her. "We have been writing to each other for some time. Keeping in touch"

"You've kept in touch with Stefan?" He growled, gripping his glass. He looked over his shoulder to see Stefan and Elena arguing and Elena leave with her girlfriends. An excited look flashed across his blue eyes.

Kate caught it, "you have got to be fucking kidding me!" She growled out. "Have you learned nothing? What the fuck is wrong with you!" Damon just looked at her, trying to form an answer. During their silence, the stool on the other side of Damon moved.

"I hope I am not interrupting anything?" A tan man asked as he sat down in the tense environment. "Are you going to introduce me to your beautiful friend Damon?" Kate looked up to see friendly brown eyes, with a small ring of yellow 'werewolf' she thought.

Damon groaned, "Mason this is Katharine, old pain in my ass; Katharine this is Mason, current pain in my ass." Kate hit his arm again, he knew she hated being called that.

She reached across Damon to shake Mason's hand "please call me Kate"

"Nice to meet you Kate" Mason offered, kissing the back of her hand. She smiled at the gesture.

"Likewise, as long as you don't become a pain in my ass we will have no problem, I have no problem having furry friends." Mason dropped her hand and stared at her. "I have been around a long time, and you have very interesting eyes" He blinked a few times and smiled.

"I like you, no bull shit. You should take a page from her book Damon." Mason suggested.

"I've gotten enough from Kate's book." Damon smirked.

"If you would excuse me, I seem to have a friend in need" She glanced at Stefan who was sitting alone at their table. "It was nice to meet you Mason." She smiled and leaned in to whisper in Damon's ear "It's not like I was hard to find, and they are just pretending so don't get your hopes up." She stood up straight and walked back toward Stefan.

Mason watched the girl walk away, "I gotta say you do pretty well for yourself, how is that that beautiful women are attracted to the Salvatore brothers? Did she spend equal time with the both of you?" he joked, Damon griped his glass again and glared at him in warning.

"I would keep what you don't know to yourself" Mason put both of his hands up in surrender and took a sip of beer the bartender sat in front of him.

"You should have taken your own advice when you put a knife through me." Mason challenged. "Doing things like that could get you killed"

"It's not a full moon anymore so that better not have been a threat."

"I got more up my sleeve then you give me credit for" Mason smiled "I may like her" he motioned to Kate "but I would hate for that pretty face or your brother to get caught in the crossfire" Damon grabbed Mason's hand and forced his face to the table, growling in his ear.

"Threaten me all you want Mason, but the minute you put my family in danger I will rip your arms off and make you wear them as a hat."

"Damon, calm down." He heard Kate whisper low. He looked up and saw her brown eyes staring at him with worry. "Not here." She warned. Damon let go of Mason, rolled his shoulders, and dropped a few bills on the bar. Without another word he walked out of the Grill.

Kate and Stefan approached Mason who took another sip of his beer. "Damon can be irrational and act without thinking. It tends to get messy. And there is no use to try and control him" She smiled sweetly rubbing Mason's sore shoulder. Mason let out a pleasurable moan and Stefan looked away. Kate then squeezed the sore muscle and leaned into his ear "I on the other hand am very rational and plan according the a threat, which is more precise than irrationality. Leave Damon and Stefan alone and you can continue to live safe. I don't mind your kind, but I always protect my own first."

Mason groaned in pain and nodded, Kate smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Fantastic, I will see you around. We should grab a drink sometime." She let go and Stefan followed her out of the bar and into the car.

"Do you think that was wise?" Stefan asked as they drove off.

"He threatened us and drove Damon to react. Mason needs to know that we are all together on this and won't let shit like that slide. I don't know how that little tiff came about but we gotta back our own Stefan." Stefan nodded "When we get back to the house you and Damon need to explain some things." Stefan nodded again and they were silent for the rest of the ride.

When they pulled up to the mansion Damon's Camaro was already parked and the living room light was on. The two found him standing by the fireplace with scotch in his hand. Kate hung up her jacket and went to where she found the wine cabinet earlier to open a bottle of red. "Just making yourself at home?" Damon asked without looking.

"Damon." Stefan warned and Kate laughed.

"I will be sure to replace your wine Damon if that worries you" She could see him smirk as he continued to look at the fire. "A little warm for a fire isn't it?" She just got a shrug.

"You gonna start yelling at me yet?" Kate looked to Stefan and shook her head once before she answered

"Why would I do that? I heard it, Mason threatened you, you kept your cool then he threatened Stefan. You were protecting your brother. There is nothing wrong with that." She smiled and walked to sit in Damon's chair, he watched her move with dangerous elegance. "I agree you could have done it a little more tastefully, but that is just your style. You're the big bad vampire."

"I am bad" He smirked, slipping into their once comfortable back and forth

"I bet you think you're big too" Kate answered obnoxiously scanning him up and down with her own smirk. Stefan shifted on his feet uncomfortably.

"You wound me darling." He joked holding his hand over his heart. Kate shrugged and took another sip of wine, Damon watched as her lips wrapped around the glass and she gulped the red liquid.

"So," Kate started changing the subject "how did you come to be on the bad side of a wolf?" Damon and Stefan then took turns telling her what had been happening, Katherine coming back, impersonating Elena, and killing Caroline with Damon's blood in her system. The Gilbert device trapping and almost killing them, but killing the mayor who was apparently a dormant wolf. How the mayor's brother came, who is a fully realized wolf and almost killed Stefan and Caroline. The information they found at Duke about the moonstone Mason was looking for and the sun and moon curse. And how Damon tried to use a silver knife to kill Mason.

The entire time Kate only nodded and made little "hum" sounds while she sipped her wine. The brothers would argue every once in a while to debate facts and "no it happened like this..." it was like listening to their hunting stories all over again from their human years.

"So where is Katherine now?" Kate asked

"I'm not sure, she met Elena and we haven't seen her since. She'll be back though" Stefan answered "I was hoping you could help with her, but was also hoping that you would have some knowledge about the sun and moon curse?"

"I have heard of it, you need the moonstone, which you say Tyler has, Mason's nephew? The doppelganger, which you conveniently found. A vampire, who there are plenty of here, and a werewolf, aka Mason. The known legend is that the species that breaks the curse is released from their prison. Vampires can walk in the sun and wolves are not bound to change on the full moon."

"We know that!" Damon said frustrated

"That's a lie" Kate stated simply and both brothers looked at her as if she sprouted two more heads.

"Come again?" Stefan asked

"It's fuzzy, but I remember learning that that story was a cover up to get both sides to look for all the ingredients to the ritual. The true ritual is beneficial to only one person; I never learned what the curse actually was. But it does not do what the legend says. The person made it up to have more manpower with their own motivation searching for the moonstone and the doppelganger." Kate explained and both brothers found their way into seats, elbows on their knees staring at her.

"Are you sure?" Stefan asked

"Positive." Kate said confidently.

"So both vampires and werewolves are looking to do a ritual that will not even help them? And Mason knows where the moonstone is." Damon reasoned. "Fantastic, we just kill him"

"We can't just kill him," Stefan argued "He's the mayor's brother in-law. There's gotta be another way. We could tell him the curse is a fake?"

"Do you really think he will believe us? He'd just think we were trying to take the ritual for ourselves." Damon argued back.

"Damon's right, let's wait it out for a bit. He was threatened twice tonight. There is a possibility he will leave it, especially since it is not a full moon anytime soon." Kate reasoned. She finished her wine and got up. "I'm going to go to bed, I haven't slept in over 24 hours and I am starting to feel it. I will see you both in the morning."

"Goodnight" They both answered as she walked up the stairs.

 **Please, Please, Review, they are better than spiked cider after a day of apple picking (Happy Halloween)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Is there anybody out there? Can anybody hear me? *cue the scene from Titanic with the guy with the whistle***

The next morning Damon woke up to the smell of pancakes wafting through the house. The clock by his bed read 8:30am and he reluctantly followed the smell to the kitchen. He saw Kate standing at the stove, one leg resting on her knee in what resembled tree pose, flipping pancakes. She held a mug in her hand and by the smell Damon recognized was not coffee.

"Should've known it was you up cooking." He commented as he poured some blood into a mug and popped it in the microwave.

"If I remember you could never resist my cooking. And it seemed safer than trying to wake you." She answered flipping a blueberry pancake.

"Your cooking wasn't the only thing I couldn't resist." He answered standing behind her. Kate could feel the heat from his bare chest seep into her back and closed her eyes at the feel of his nose brushing her neck lightly, Damon was always most affectionate in the morning. She sighed as he placed his hands on her hips, brushing his thumbs against the exposed skin between her sleep pants and shirt.

"Damon" She softly groaned out. He brushed his nose against her neck again.

"Yes Kat Nip" He breathed out his pet name for her, pulling her a little closer.

"Your pancakes are done." She said simply, turning in his arms with a plate of pancakes and bacon in hand. She looked up at him heavily through her bangs and Damon retreated his hands from her skin to grab the plate.

"It smells fantastic" He offered slowly with a smirk and grabbed his mug from the microwave to eat at the counter. He moved her purse, which was lying across the countertop, to the back of a chair, careful not to upset its contents. Kate made a plate for Stefan to put it into the heated oven to keep it warm and took her own seat on the other side of the counter, away from Damon. "There is a picnic today; Stefan and I were planning on going since we are founding families. You're welcome to come, we can introduce you around so you're not the weird newcomer." He offered while making a few casual hand gestures to emphasize the term _weird_ .

"That's probably a good idea if things start happening it's better if the town knows me as your sweet friend from out of town. Not the creep who is shut in the Salvatore's boarding house." She agreed as Stefan appeared in the kitchen with a good morning. "I made pancakes and bacon, your plate is in the oven"

"Why do you think I am out of bed? I could smell it upstairs. It's nice to have fresh breakfast in the morning." He complimented, taking his plate from the oven and joining Damon at the counter.

"Don't get used to it, I'm not your maid or your mother." She joked and Stefan nodded taking a large bite of pancakes.

"So you're coming to the picnic?" Stefan asked

"Yup, she is," Damon answered

"Do I need to bring anything?"

"No, I was going to get there early to help set up as an assignment for school. You can come to and offer your services. I'm sure they can use another set of hands." Stefan answered

"Oh right, you're doing the high school thing." Kate laughed waving her fork at him "That's gotta suck!"

"That's what I keep telling him, but he doesn't listen" Damon agreed

"It keeps me busy, something to do every day." Stefan defended. Kate and Damon looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"You just want an excuse to see Elena every day," Kate teased, ignoring Damon's sullen look. Stefan stuck his tongue out with a mouth full of food. "Gross" Kate laughed again. "Am I gonna be introduced to her today?"

"I don't know, we're supposed to be mad at each other," Stefan answered.

"I'll introduce you" Damon offered. Picking up his plate and rinsing it in the sink.

"Great, I'm gonna get ready." She handed her plate to Damon "I'm sure you two can handle this." She called over her shoulder as she headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Damon and Stefan looked at each other and the mess that was around the kitchen. Normally Kate was a pretty clean cook, meaning she made the mess on purpose.

"Of course" They both muttered as they started cleaning up the stove and counters from the drops of batter that didn't make it into the pan.

"How are you doing?" Stefan asked

"Can we not do this caring brother thing?" Damon answered washing away the bacon grease. "It's not our thing"

"I thought I'd ask, you're civil with each other, that's good. Better than I thought it was gonna be." Stefan said lightly

"Yea and you two are the best of friends, maybe it's because you've been doing a lot of catching up. I thought we were past the era of pen pals." Damon aggressively washed the rest of the dishes in the sink and Stefan put the ingredients away.

"I looked her up years ago. We exchange a letter every once in awhile, more recently now. You could have done the same, I know she would have liked to hear from you."

"She could have done the same thing," Damon argued whipping his hands and making his way to leave the kitchen.

"She asked about you." Damon stopped as he was leaving.

"Thanks for relaying the message" Was all he said as he continued to walk upstairs. He stopped outside of the hall bathroom to hear Kate singing parts from _Que Sura_ through the sound of running water. He sighed and continued on to his bedroom to get ready for the day.

Kate fixed her hair, drying it enough to let it hang down and finish drying on its own as she got ready. She picked a sundress that went to her knees with a sheer blue overlay that brushed the ground. She slipped on a pair of sandals and a brown belt with a large blue buckle, finishing off with her accessories and headed downstairs to join the boys.

"You look nice" Stefan offered

"Thanks, I thought I'd look presentable while you two show me off to the town" She exaggerated.

"Not leaving a lot to the imagination" Damon joked scanning her up and down.

"You can look as hard as you want Damon, I always pack a few surprises." She joked back "let's get this show on the road." She turned and headed out the door, followed by the brothers.

They took Damon's car and put the top down for the beautiful spring day. Kate tied her hair back once the car started moving and outstretched her arms as they hit the road, flapping them like she was flying.

"You look nuts" Damon yelled back at her, she just laughed and shrugged.

"I give zero fucks about how I look" and flapped harder, laughing louder. The car pulled into the town's park that was bustling with energy. People were setting up decorations, stands for food, a place for music and games for kids. "Aw this is cute" She commented as they got out. She heard some murmuring from those around her wondering who she was, some guys stared but most were just curious. When someone new arrives in a small town they want to know who they are and why there are here.

"I feel like a new exhibit at the zoo" Kate commented, pushing her sunglasses on top of her head, looking those who stared at her in the eye and offering a bright smile.

"Let's go introduce you around before you give people a stroke," Damon said leading the way toward a woman with cropped blond hair in a uniform chatting with Caroline. "Hey Liz" He greeted, the woman turned toward them.

"Damon, thanks for coming to help. I know Carol will appreciate it."

"Of course." Damon waved it off pleasantly "Liz I'd like you to meet an old friend of Stefan and I. Liz this is Kate, Kate this is the Sheriff of our fine town."

Kate offered her hand for her to shake. "It's nice to meet you, mam. I met your daughter yesterday at the Grill." She greeted smiling at Caroline who offered a small hi.

"Nice to meet you too, and please don't call me mam, I'm not that old! Where are you visiting from?" Liz asked

"Chicago, I had some time off work and decided to pay my friends a visit, I haven't seen them in quite some time."

"That's a wonderful city, I have only been there a few times. Where did you meet the Salvatores?" She asked curiously

"I meet Damon when I was in college" Kate offered simply "I didn't have a place to go one break and he brought me to visit his kid brother and his guardian. We kept in touch ever since." She lied easily.

"That's nice, keeping in touch with friends and even coming close to their family. How old are you Kate? Am I gonna have to bust you if I catch you with a beer tonight?" She joked.

"I would never condone underage drinking Liz, especially at a town event." Damon joked back "Kate is almost 24" He answered for her and she just smiled.

"Check my ID if you need" She joked with both hands up.

"I'm sure you're fine; If you will excuse me." Liz said stepping away "It was nice to meet you, Kate"

"I forgot how sociable you are," Damon said as he walked toward another woman who was surrounded by a few other people. Kate groaned, she hated being on display. Damon introduced her around to 'all the right people' where she pretty much repeated the same conversation. However, she smiled and laughed at the lame jokes the strangers offered, making sure to remain pleasant. She asked the Mayor, Carol, to give her any sort of job to help with the day. She immediately listed things that 'just had to be done.'

Damon walked her away from the last group reminding Kate to make sure to check the angle of the banner, that the lemonade was perfect, that there was bug spray and to make sure the start sign for the kid's race was the right shade of green. All in his joking tone counting the tasks off on his fingers.

"Oh shut the hell up, if I remember I offered your services too. But I think Carol has a few private things she would like you to help her with." She said moving her eyebrows suggestively.

Damon threw an arm around her shoulder "I'm a pretty eligible bachelor." He joked.

"Always the bachelor" Kate said, trying to remain light as she nudged him. They were making their way to the three girls she knew to introduce her to Elena. "Hey Caroline, Bonnie. Caroline, your mom is really nice, strung a little too tight. But nice." She greeted, backing away from Damon.

"Since you already know Barbie and Sabrina the last one is Elena." Kate buried the initial instinct to kill the Katherine look alike and stretched her hand out to shake Elena's. "Elena this is Kate, an old friend of Stefan and I."

"Stefan has told me a lot about you, I am sorry to hear it didn't work. But I am rooting for you!" She winked at the girl. Who offered a silent oh, as it all clicked.

"It's great to meet one of Stefan and Damon's friends. I am sure you have plenty of stories I would love to hear." She laughed lightly.

"She already told us a great one about Stefan falling off a horse into some mud." Bonnie laughed

"You told them that!" Damon looked wide-eyed.

"I did, but I forgot to mention that when you tried to help him up you slipped and fell on top of him." Kate answered finishing the story. Damon just put his head in his hands and went to go find Stefan leaving the girls to their laughing.

"Oh please tell me more" Elena offered as they continued to decorate. After some pleasant conversation, she excused herself when she saw Damon and Stefan talking to Mason by the lemonade. She quickly excused herself and walked over.

"Nice you see you again Mason, stuck on lemonade duty?" She said sweetly as she approached the tense group. "I hope there is no problems here"

"No problems at all," Damon said as he picked up a lemonade to take a sip. She didn't smell it until it was too late and Damon started coughing and slammed the cup on the table. Kate knew that the vervain would force his vampire face and rushed to turn him to put his back to the crowd so he was looking at her.

"Breath Damon, breath through your mouth." She whispered to him as his face was down, still coughing but forcing breaths through his mouth. Stefan was blocking the view of his brother from concerned onlookers with a small smile. "Look at me Damon" She said softly, he met her gaze, his blue eyes now black, rimmed with red. Veins visible under his eyes and teeth poking through. She held his eyes and a few seconds later the blue started to appear and the veins vanished. "That's a good boy" She smiled at him.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked

"He put vervain in the lemonade, he's trying to expose us! Truce my ass" Damon ranted, whipping his mouth. "Where is he? I'm gonna kill him. Don't try to stop me Stef"

"Wasn't planning on it," Stefan answered following his brother who was tailing a fleeing Mason. Leaving Kate by the lemonade with people staring at her. She picked up a cup and took a little sip and made a face as if it was too sour. "Way too much lemon." she said loudly and proceeded to fill the cups with more water. "You better be careful." She said so the boys could hear as they walked away.

 **Pretty Please Review, I like them better than a large slice of chocolate cake and glass of red wine after a long day. But seriously, one review would be great, even if it is something critical. I can do critical.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, I hope people are reading this and I hope some of you are enjoying this. I have made a promise to myself to keep going. This chapter is a little longer, please enjoy**

After the disastrous encounter with Mason that had Damon and Stefan hunting the werewolf down, she walked around the party mingling with the few people she was introduced to. At first it felt like she was having the same conversation no matter who she was talking to, how did she know the Salvator brothers, where was she from, how long was she staying, did she like it here, what did she do for a living...the minority of it was getting on her nerves. She was finally getting into an interesting conversation when she noticed Elena and Caroline walking toward the woods in a hurry, not bothering to notice the few concerned looks from the other event goers. She excused herself from her conversation and moved to catch up with them "Where are you going?" She whispered harshly grabbing Elena by the elbow. She may not know this girl, but she practically screamed 'danger magnet' and Kate had no doubt that she was about to stick her nose into something she could not handle.

"Stefan and Damon have disappeared and now every officer that was here is gone," Elena said urgently, tugging her arm from the older woman's iron grip. Kate's eyes widened as she expanded her hearing to catch a gunshot followed by a familiar groan. Her eyes whipped toward the south, trying to see anything through the trees.

"This way!" She started moving further into the woods at a human speed, they emerged into a small clearing that was littered with dead leaves that showed signs of being disrupted by footprints. In the middle were a set of stone stairs that lead into the ground, a crypt, where she heard Damon's voice float through the opening to beg for his brother's life to Liz.

"I can't go in there!" Caroline stopped at the edge causing the other two to stop their decent.

"Caroline!" Elena yelled, pleading with her friend to try and see reason "It's Stefan" Like his name would make her jump into action.

"But it's my mom. She will hate me." Caroline looked down, ashamed eyes not able to look at Elena.

"I'm going in. Caroline if it comes down to it I will kill Liz, I will try not to but, if she doesn't listen I will have no other choice. She may listen to you." Kate explained as another shot went off "Think about it." She said before she sped into the crypt, not looking back. She was met with the back of a guard who stood in the doorway and quietly stooped down to hover one hand at the inside of his thigh and the other on the outside of his shin. In one move she applied an enormous amount of pressure, effectively breaking his leg, causing him to fall to the floor. At the sound of his partner falling to the floor, the next guard spun to aim his gun at the intruder, before he could fire his gun Kate pushed the weapon down, causing him to shoot his foot, elbowed him in the nose, and knocking him out. Liz soon stood alone, skin white as a sheet but her eyes held her focus as she stared down the barrel of her weapon at Kate. Running footsteps down stone stairs broke the tense silence and a second later Elena emerged, running past both women to kneel beside Stefan. She guided chin off the ground to look at her.

"Elena get out of here!" Liz yelled, eyes never blinking, never leaving Kate's form with her finger on the trigger.

"What are you doing Liz! This is Damon and Stefan!" Elena yelled, on the verge of tears.

"You don't know what they are," Liz said bluntly, standing strong with a single bead of sweat prickling the corner of her forehead.

"I do," Elena said calmly and offered her wrist to Stefan, who at first refused "You need it, just a little." She encouraged softly, pushing her wrist forward again.

"You don't want to do this Liz" Kate tried to reason, not wanting to harm Caroline's mother. "They're good men, you know that."

"They are not men. They're monsters who should be put down!" Liz yelled finally getting the nerve to pulled the trigger. The shot rang through the enclosed space of the crypt, it's harsh sound vibrating off the stone walls as the bullet released itself from its chamber at Kate, but before it could even escape the confines of the barrel a blur grabbed the gun causing the bullet to simply graze her arm. Liz's eyes followed the manicured hand up the slim arm to see her daughter, veins pulsing under her eyes and teeth bared.

"Hi, mom." She said sheepishly, fangs slowly retreating back into her jaw. Liz looked on with an expression mixed with horror, devastation, and anger, all of which were quickly masked to be one of disdain. Kate flicked her attention from the exchange between mother and daughter to watch as Damon half dragged himself to one of the fallen guards. Her heart clenched at the state of these two men, shot and bloody, their existence in danger because of a petty feud.

"What are you going to do Liz? Are you going to try and kill us all? Little Elena that you knew from diapers and your own daughter?" Kate asked trying to keep Liz calm even with her own anger bubbling to the surface.

"She is no longer my daughter," Liz answered without looking at Caroline.

"She is the same person just heightened. She didn't ask for this" Damon answered slowly getting up and whipping the blood from his mouth. Liz's eyes flicked to his for a moment, you could see the muscles of her jaw clench as she ignored the possibility of his comment. Vampires were monsters, they were cruel and heartless and no better than a rabid dog that needed to be put down before it bit anyone.

"Are you going to kill me?" Liz asked

"No" Damon shook his head "you are my friend. You'll come back with us until the vervain is out of your system and I will compel you to forget. Then it can go back to normal." He looked so hurt, he felt bad for the woman he really did.

"It will never be normal," Liz said tossing her gun to the floor then throwing her hands up. Kate walked up to her and pushed against her neck causing Liz to drop into Damon's arms unconscious. His eyes saught her questioningly.

"She wouldn't have gone quietly." Kate explained with a sigh "Stefan take the girls home. Damon bring the Sheriff to your house and lock her up until we can fix this. I will stay and deal with these." She motioned to the guards. "They are only unconscious so it will be an easy clean up. Just fix them up, compel them and send them on their way." She said like it was such a simple thing while shooing the others. Elena grabbed a dazed Caroline's hand and led her out of the crypt, followed by Stefan and Damon carrying Liz.

Kate took slow steps around the two men, the scent of thier residual fear still lingered in the room. It was probably the first encounter these men ever had with vampires. They were boys really, probably no older than twenty-seven, of course, everyone was just a child in her eyes. Kate stopped in front of one of the officers nudging him with her foot, he didn't move. She checked the status of each officer snapping bones back into place and feeding them her blood. She then sat on the steps, playing with some dirt by here feet as she waited for them to wake up and compel them. She composed a story for them to think they followed some teens who were drunk and got caught in a fight. She told them to go home and to hand over all their vervain vials and wooden bullets, pocketing them for her own use.

As exited the crypt to notice the sun had set and the moon was rising. She brushed her fingers across her tricep and came away with bloody tips, she still hadn't healed from Liz's bullet. With furled brows she studied the red, rubbing the stain between her fingers before sucking them clean. As she walked away from the crypt she could hear Mason's baritone voice cut through the darkness. Anger filled her, how dare he put her boys in danger. How dare he put them through that pain. She warned him and now he had hell to pay. She was going to confront him, kick his face in, until she heard the voice on the other line, 'Katherine" She growled. Opting to control herself she scaled a tree to try and hear the extent of their conversation.

Apparently, his nephew almost killed a girl and offered Mason the moonstone because he wanted nothing to do with the curse. Mason told Katherine the moonstone was hidden somewhere safe, but neglected to say where which told Kate the extent of how much this man trusted the woman on the other end. The conversation then went down a more private road that made Kate roll her eyes and want to loose her lunch "She's manipulated another one." Kate muttered as she climbed down the tree and made her way to the Salvatore's home.

It was late, she was hungry, and her head was starting to hurt, punishing Mason would have to wait. When she arrived she noticed Caroline sitting with her head in her hands and Elena rubbing her back. "What are you doing here? You both should be resting." Kate said walking through the parlor over to sit with the two girls, taking Caroline's other side.

"I wanted to see her, to explain." Caroline said, "But she doesn't want anything to do with me." She cried

"Give her time, her world was turned upside down and she is finding it hard to look past her own nose." She gave Caroline a hug, Kate was never an affectionate person, honestly, she was never a hugger and preferred to refrain from the action. However, she respected what this young vampire did for her friends. To confront your family, your only family, about this was immensely difficult. She would have understood Caroline wanting her mother to live in ignorance for as long as possible. "It will be okay" Caroline nodded into her shoulder. When she let go Kate got up and walked to the wine cabinet and picked out two bottles. She handed them to the girls. "Elena go get Stefan to take you two home. Maybe Caroline can stay at your place." Elena nodded and grabbed the two bottles then got up to go get Stefan.

When they were gone she went downstairs to grab a blood bag, her wound was still bleeding and that blood needed to be replaced and hopefully, the skin would heal. As she walked by the closed cell she noticed Liz lying on the cot with her back toward the door. "She is still your daughter, and you still love her," Kate said quietly. Liz said nothing even though Kate knew she heard her. She walked slowly upstairs to put her drink in the microwave and retrieve another green capsule from her purse. "Second one today," She thought sullenly. She signed as her headache receded once she took the pill.

She then gathered her mug, a bottle of scotch, tequila, and glasses from the bar to head upstairs. When she got to the landing sounds of hushed curses and groans filled the hallway, leading her to an ajar door. She pushed through to an empty room that had a modern decorating touch, king sized bed with white sheets and a few paintings on the walls, originals no doubt. She placed her mug on the dresser and continued to the bathroom where the sounds were coming from.

She found Damon trying to yank a bullet with tweezers from the back of his shoulder, cursing every time the silver instrument slipped. "Need some help solider?" She asked quietly gazing over the tight planes of his back through the mirror's reflection. Damon paused in his actions to place all of his attention on her, blue eyes burning into her. When he didn't say anything she held up the two bottles she had been carrying, the sloshing of the liquid seeming to bite through the silence. "I brought your favorite" She motioned to the scotch "And I brought mine" She held up the tequila. She could feel the air thicken under his gaze, she needed to get out of it.

She walked toward him and set them on the bathroom counter, feeling him follow her every move. She chose to ignore him and hopped herself up so she was tall enough to get the right leverage to get the bullet out. Sometimes it was best to keep busy. She opened her legs and Damon stood between them handing her the tweezers silently. Why couldn't he say something instead of just stare at her? She avoided his gaze and instead looked at the entry wound and the damage Damon had done when trying to get it out on his own. He pushed it further in, rendering the tweezers useless until she widened the original wound. "Move forward for a sec." He did as she asked and she hiked up her skirt, Damon continued to watched with heated eyes, ice blue blazing suddenly and growing slightly dark "Don't get so excited" Kate forced a smiled and pulled out the knife that she had strapped to her thigh, causing him to grin.

"Right, packing a few surprises." He said and moved back toward her beckoning hand, trying to smile.

"This is gonna hurt. You pushed it further in so I gotta cut and move some flesh so I can get to it. I've told you not to try to fix these types of injuries, you always make them worse." She scolded and he just humphed and straightening his back. "Do you want something to bite on?"

"I'm fine, just get it out." He said but grabbed the scotch and took a swig from the bottle. Kate worked skillfully with the knife and then the tweezers to maneuver the bullet to the surface. The disgusting sounds of moving flesh and blood were broken by Damon groaning a curse every once in awhile and taking another swig but that was it. She knew this was once a common occurrence for them, they were both used to pain and there were many instances where one of them had to perform minor medical care on the other. She finally got the last splinter out and washed the wound, causing his muscles to quake at the stinging sensation of the pure alcohol washing over his opened skin. He picked up one of the blood bags he brought up and tore it open, his eyes transforming from icy blue to hot red outlined by pulsing veins, eyes trained on her as he drained it. She handed him a second one, already open when he finished the first one, not looking away from the way he pulled from the bag.

He could feel the wound on his back begin to close, the skin was coming back together, sewing itself up and producing an irritating sensation that always wanted to make him scratch the spot. His gaze finally wondered over her form, assessing her condition and resting on her own injury on her shoulder. It was just a flesh wound but it was not healing as fast as it should have been, the blood had stopped running but it was still very much present on her skin. He brushed his thumb over the surrounding area, causing her to flinch, her own hurt no longer forgotten. He stopped drinking and offered her the rest of his bag. "Here, drink" He offered.

She shook her head "You were more hurt than I was." Pushing the bag back to him, he didn't let up though

"It was not a request." He ordered staring at her with eyes that were so red they appeared to be black. To anyone else, he screamed danger and predator.

She grabbed the bag and let her own face show. It was like his, veins under the eyes, slightly pulsing in anticipation and pupils dilated. The only difference was Kate had violet rings around her eyes, not red. He stared into her eyes as she drank the rest of the blood from the bag. As she drank Damon turned himself in her legs to place his hands on her now exposed thigh from when she drew her knife. She set the empty bag next to her, a few drops of blood lingered on her bottom lip.

"Damon" she warned through her fanged mouth. She knew that look, the look he had been giving her all evening. That look that asked if she was all right, that told her he would kill anything that caused her harm, that let her know it was alright to fall because he would be there to pick her up. His eyes flicked from her's to the small droplet of blood still staining her lip. All Damon could think was how dangerous she looked and how familiar this situation seemed and how he wanted to capture that lip and lick it clean.

He didn't take her warning; "no" he growled hands gripping her thigh tighter and darted like a snake to capture her lips in his, fangs clashing. She gasped at his attack and let out a moan as he ravished her mouth. He tasted as she remembered, like leather and sandalwood. The memory of watching him shine his horse's saddle in his father's barn came through her mind, she could almost smell the earth from his ride.

Instinctively her hand snaked around his bare shoulders and buried through his silky black hair pulling him closer. He growled again and pulled her closer to him, causing her skirt to push up further and his hands followed. They continued their battle, teeth knocking on occasion, She'd circle his tongue with hers and he'd tug at her lip. What was happening? She shouldn't be doing this... But just a little more...Damon was leaning so far into her he needed to brace himself on the mirror to keep from falling forward. Kate pulled away at the noise, coming out of her haze but Damon went to trail kisses down her neck, nipping with his teeth and dragging his fangs across the junction of her jaw. "Damon," She breathed out, sounding less forceful than she intended.

"I know baby" he groaned against her neck, she smelled like lavender after a spring rain.

"No, no Damon." She planted her hands against his chest. "We gotta stop," She said sternly with a firm push. He let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes to try and regain some clarity.

"Yea, you're right" He answered without moving "Just give me a minute," He said letting out another breath through his mouth that panned against her heated chest causing her to gasp at the sensation of it going over the wet kiss marks. She could feel him smirk against her skin as he did it again.

"Damon, you're not helping," She said huskily. He re-wet one of the kisses and blew on it again, smirking the whole time.

"I am if it gets you to continue what we had going." He offered, face still in her neck.

"We shouldn't Damon, we can't"

"Those are two different reasons and neither of them is you don't want to" There was almost a desperate tone in his voice, she was so close to him but she was pulling away.

"Please Damon, don't try to break me right now." She pleaded. Why was she pulling away?

"I can tell it won't take much to get you from here murmuring no, to the bed screaming yes." He taunted, his asshole attitude trying to push to the surface, which made her angry and she slapped his still sore shoulder causing him to bolt upright and curse. His eyes looked at her and they were filled with such hunger and lust but laced with disappointment. She knew hers probably showed about the same. "What the hell?!"

"What baby, too rough for you?" She said as she hopped off the counter and stared at him with her hands on her hips.

His vampire face receded, red fading back to blue, and he muttered "Maybe you're right, I'm sorry" looking down.

She smiled and waved it off, picking up her tequila and heading back into his room. "Are you coming? It was a shit day and I want to get drunk, we have a lot to catch up on." She said casually and he followed her out of his bathroom.

She settled on his bed, back against his headrest, legs crossed, and outstretched. He had to take a moment to look at her: hair now tussled over one shoulder, swollen lips, a small mark visible on her neck and her brown eyes looking back at him. He wanted to run to her and continue, but she said no and she was probably right. Like always. So he took another swig of scotch and approached her.

She thought he looked like a predator stalking up to his prey that had no chance of getting out alive. "I brought glasses you know, I thought we could try and not be animals." She joked, He looked at her with another smirk and he lowered himself to the bed.

"But I like it when we're animals." Kate felt a pull but ignored it to instead salute him with her bottle and take her own swig, allowing the alcohol to burn her already warm insides.

"Okay let's address the elephant in the room," She said, taking another swig and met his eyes "We just had the beginning of a pretty hot reunion."

"Sadly it was only the beginning" He smirked doing that weirdly alluring thing with his eyebrows.

"I'm serious. Damon, there is too much going on for us to just jump in the sack. It's been years since I have heard anything from you."

"You didn't exactly track me down to knock on my door either Kate." He accused settling against the headboard, anger seeping through his voice. "But you have been talking to Stefan no problem."

"He looked me up." She said facing him with sadness in her eyes. "I asked about you often when I wrote him"

"Well he didn't convey your messages," Damon said angrily.

"I don't want to fight. We could have both done something, but neither of us did. We had our reasons. But here we are now, in the same room and drinking like we were doing this last week."

Damon smiled "yea, it's pretty easy" Kate got up and grabbed the two glasses, pouring herself one and offering the empty one to Damon to do the same.

"So, tell me what you have been doing. Where have you been?" She asked sitting cross-legged ready to catch up. He smiled and sat up too. He told her about his travels some of the exciting people he met and things he did. He told her about coming home and how that felt after being away for such a long time. He told her about trying to open the tomb to get Katherine out and found out she wasn't in there. He waited for an 'I told you so' but it never came. He told her how that seemed to break him and it was a reminder of how stupid he had been. He finally told her about Elena and how he killed her brother in a drunken anger when she told him it was only Stefan.

"Damon" She started slowly "I know you're not going to want to hear this, but I think you need to. I don't think you love her." He just looked at her urging her to continue. "I'll give you that you were initially attracted to her because she looks like Katherine and you don't want to give that up because it holds a bit of familiar comfort to you; like a link to when you were human. She also has the qualities you thought Katherine had, the ones you wish she had: gracious, loyal, selfless, accepting. I get she's what you think you want, a mix of what you had and what you wish you had. But, she wants to change you. She wants you to be something you're not and she can't see certain qualities as virtues."

Damon moved to lie on his back, drink refilled resting on his chest and the heels of his hands in his eyes. He groaned "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"That's what I asked you last night, I was hoping you had an answer by now." She tried to joke, but he didn't take the bait.

"I know you're right, at least in some ways. And she is loyal and with Stefan, who deserves her. And even if she did decide she wanted me instead, what would that say about me? Doing the same thing again? And that would change how I would look at her."

"I tend to be right, but it's better to let you figure it out, instead of telling you. You may be old, but you are still a man. And love, or perceived love, can be blinding. I'm not telling you to change, I'm just saying to really pay attention to the relationship you have with Elena. It will do you good." She finished her drink and poured another, feeling the buzz of the tequila.

Damon nodded and turned to face her "What about you?" She could tell he wanted to be distracted by something else other than his own life. So she told him about the apartment she had in Chicago, her work, the places she traveled for work, how she gets a gift for her doorman's daughter whenever she has a job. She told him that it weighs on her sometimes and has been protecting him and his brother when their names came across her request list. He let out a laugh and thanked her for probably saving his ass a few times without knowing it. "Yea, a few" She laughed too. She told him about her painting and friends in the city. He asked a few questions here and here, but was relatively quiet. They talked until they both started to sense the sun around 4 and couldn't help drifting to sleep.

 **I know it was so much longer this time! I could not find a better space to cut it off so I decided to keep going.**

 **Please review, They can be more fun than getting carried away...*wink wink***

 **but seriously**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everybody, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Sorry that we are back to short chapters, but you will get a long one again soon!**

Damon awoke first a little before noon and discovered that Kate was tucked into his side, still in her dress, one leg hoisted over his so he could see the strap that hugged the knife to her thigh. The way the black strap contrasted with her lightly tanned skin was a sight that un-shamefully turned him on. His gaze traveled up to her face where he noticed darkness had gathered under her eyes, more noticeable now her makeup had rubbed off. This worried him, he checked to see that her arm had completely healed, which put him a little more at ease.

He kissed the top of her head lightly, an action that made him pause for a moment due to the gentleness of his action and untangled himself from her to go get them breakfast and some coffee. When he went downstairs he found Stefan sitting at the counter looking down at his hands with a deep trench between his eyebrows.

"I'm surprised you aren't at Elena's." Damon mentioned when he entered the room, walking past him to the coffee pot.

"She wanted some alone time with Caroline, I can't blame her for that. She went through a lot last night and needed a friend, I would have just imposed. I wasn't gone long, but from the sound of it you were too busy to notice I got home." He accused, Damon paused in making the coffee, but only for half a second. "What the hell Damon." Stefan's tone was gaining that edge that he was judging his brother and wanted to repremend him for something.

"Calm down. She was helping me get a bullet out and we just got carried away." He defended with a grin.

"Of course, a little brush with death and you jump each other. This isn't a good idea Damon." Stefan was getting angry. What was Damon thinking? Kate was here to help and this was a distraction that no one needed, it would only end badly.

"We didn't have sex, brother."

"Then why wasn't she in her room this morning?"

"I didn't say we didn't sleep together," Damon smirked at his own joke.

"This isn't funny Damon." Stefan growled, "Does she know about your little obsession with Elena?" This was so like Damon, he gets hurt and decides to use women as a distraction. He shouldn't be surprised, honestly Stefan expected Damon to have his new distraction soon, he just never thought it would be Kate.

"We talked all night and I told her everything." He said triumphantly, he was getting irritated at the look coming from his brother "She told me what she thought about it, not that it is any of your business and told me what she has been up to. I'm surprised your panties are in a much tighter wad then normal this morning."

"She told you everything?" Stefan challenged, at Damon's confused look Stefan tossed a small bag on the table. "Even about that?"

Damon picked the bag up, "what the hell is this?" He asked as he gazed at the shiny green capsules he hadn't seen in decades.

"I found them in her purse, they fell out when I went to move it." He watched as his brother looked to be counting them "There are about 15 left" He answered "14 after she has one today"

"Fuck" Damon almost shouted, running a hand through his hair.

"This is dangerous Damon if Elena…" Stefan started and Damon's head shot up and glared.

"Fuck Elena, this is Kate, be worried about her for a second. She has 15 of these damn things left. I don't know how long she has been taking these or how sensitive she is. You've seen it Stefan, be worried about Kate right now." Elena, Elena, Elena, Kate was once a sister to Stefan and he was pissed that his brother wasn't showing an ounce of concern for her.

"You're right" Stefan pinched the bridge of his nose "She didn't mention it, maybe it isn't that bad. Maybe she just started taking them."

"From what I remember she gets them in a few month supply and rotates witches. She must have a pickup day scheduled soon if she is so low." The coffee pot beeped.

"Where is she," Stefan asked

"Sleeping" Damon answered, putting two cups of blood in the microwave.

"Damon," Stefan said quietly "It's noon, she never slept this late"

"I know that," Damon answered putting both the coffee, blood, and pill on a tray to walk upstairs, mind turning as he went. He placed it on the table next to his bed and took another look at her. She did look tired and he wondered when the last time she really fed was. He would have to make sure she did that soon no matter how reluctant she was. He brushed a finger against her cheek, noticing the slight chill to her skin. Curiosity getting the best of him he left her to go into her room, opening every drawer he saw. In her bedside table sat a bag he wished he never had to see again. He knew this only went with her if she thought she'd need it. He didn't even want to open it and see how much was inside, he just stared at the open drawer.

Kate woke up to the rich smell of bold coffee and smooth blood, her mouth was watering in her sleep. She opened her eyes to see that she was alone in Damon's bed, with the vampire nowhere in sight, she frowned at the realization. She glanced at the tray and picked up the blood, tossing it back in two sips so she could move onto her coffee, allowing the flavors to briefly mix in her mouth. When she picked up the second mug she caught a glimpse of green under the napkin. Her heart stopped. Slowly lifting the napkin to revealed one of her capsules; she let out a sigh as she swallowed it down. The jig was up.

Getting up she took her coffee and moved to her room to change when she walked through the open door she found Damon sitting on her bed staring into an open drawer. "You know it isn't nice to snoop." She joked, but he didn't even look at her.

"What is this doing here." She didn't see what he was talking about, but she knew exactly what she put in that drawer. She let out a sigh but didn't move.

"I brought it as a precaution." She tried to reason, taking a causal tone "I haven't had to use it in some time, but I wanted to be careful"

"It's more than that," He said finally looking at her "how many are you taking a day?" He asked seriously, eyes burning with fury but laced with worry.

"One" She answered quickly "Sometimes two," She said lowly looking down, she hated feeling cornered, but there was no use lying now.

"Do you know how many you have left?" He asked, before she could answer he quickly did for her "15! No, I'm sorry you have 14 left. And you sometimes need two a day?!"

"You looked through my purse?' She challenged trying to get this discussion off her.

"Don't you dare try to fight for privacy, not with this," Damon answered back, standing up and walking toward her. "Stefan found them" She didn't say anything and looked at the floor again. He let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair "Please tell me the next one on the list is close." He pleaded and looked down at her nodding back at him.

"Georgia" She whispered looking up at him again.

"We can go today" Damon answered

"You don't have to come." He looked at her like she was nuts "The Sheriff is in your basement, a werewolf wants you dead, your ex-girlfriend is lurking around and you have a moonstone to find. I can go by myself"

"What if something happens?"

"I have 14 left, even if I take two a day trip I'll be fine. I can get there tonight, get them in the morning and be back here the next night in time for drinks." She smiled playing it off.

"Why didn't you tell me you were taking them again?" He asked

"Honestly Damon, it didn't seem like you had the right to know." She answered and walked to open her dresser and grab clothes for the day and pack an overnight bag.

"Didn't have the right to know! Are you serious?! What if something happened?"

"I'm not stupid, I knew I had to replenish and I was going to do it. I'm just going now to put you are Stefan at ease." She argued. "Now if you'll excuse me I would like to get changed." She told him as she forced him out and closed the door. She let out a small scream of frustration and heard Damon bang his hand against the door, muttering a few curses in Italian. He turned away, stalked down the hall and slammed his own door closed. Quickly changing, she grabbed her keys and overnight bag and made her way to the door, but stopped. She heard Stefan downstairs and did not want to have the same conversation with him as she did with Damon. So she opted for the window. As silently as she could she scaled down the drainpipe and walked across the gravel to her car. As she pulled away she saw Stefan in the rear view mirror, holding her purse.

"Fuck!" She screamed and slammed her brakes, threw the car in park and blurred to Stefan.

"You were going to travel to Georgia without them? That is having this under control?" He talked down to her, causing her to growl.

"Don't try and reprimand me Stef, so it, I don't want to hear it." She snatched her purse and started walking away "I will see you in a few days, try and not to get into a shit-ton of trouble while I'm gone" got in her car and drove away.

"Fuck them" She muttered to herself while she drove down the street "Talking to me like I am a child. I am a grown ass woman, many times over, and I have been taking care of myself long before I even met them. It's not like I was ignoring the problem, and it is none of their business anyway." She finished her rant as 'Thank you for visiting Mystic Falls' sign blurred by the car.

Kate had been gone for two days, according to her agenda she should be on her way back soon. Damon and Stefan were both worried but refused to talk about it. The brothers had an unspoken agreement to lay off the topic of Kate's departure. Besides, they had a few things to deal with and figured their house guest would be able to take the back burner until these things were dealt with. First on their agenda was Caroline, who was on her way to check on her mother, who has currently been residing silently in the basement.

Stefan opened the door after he heard a knock and let Caroline and Elena in. "How is she doing?" Caroline asked, not even bothering saying hi.

"Good, Damon is with her now, he thinks the last of the vervain is out of her system." Caroline nodded and walked further into the house, nervously rubbing her hands together.

"I think you should try talking to her again before you make the decision to compel her." Elena tried to reason with her life long friend.

"You heard her Elena, I am not her daughter anymore. She has been brought up to hate exactly what I am. We can't expect everybody to be cool with the supernatural's existence in the real world."

"Talk to her now, imagine how much easier it would be if she just knew. There would be no more secrets." Damon came up from the basement and waved Caroline over to him.

"She can be compelled, she wants to see you." Caroline nods, ignoring her friend's final pleas and made her way to the basement, Elena following close behind. Damon stopped the brunette at the door "She needs to do this alone" She nodded and went to go sit on the couch as her best friend made a life changing decision.

"Where's your friend?" She asked casually looking around.

"She had some business out of town" Stefan answered, joining her on the couch "She should be back tomorrow." Elena nodded and watched as Damon fixed a drink.

"I like her, at least the minimal exposure I had to her. She came and left so fast." Elena explained

"She'll be back" Damon answered checking his phone to see if there were any messages from her.

"What is the deal with you guys? You seemed so pissed when you saw her here?" She directed her question to Damon's back.

"It's complicated" Stefan answered his girlfriend after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Well, How come you were out of touch for so long?" She tried again

"He said it was complicated" Damon grunted as Caroline came out of the basement with her mother in tow, the elder woman looking dazed. Elena looked down, trying to hide her disappointment when she noticed that her friend's mother was under compulsion. Liz thanked Damon for allowing her to stay in his home while she was ill her voice seeming to struggle to get the words out like she didn't quite understand what she was saying and Caroline walked her out of the house.

"I had to" Was all she said as she led her mother outside.

The silence was interrupted by Damon's phone ringing "Ah my favorite witch, got something for me?" There was chatter on the other end as Damon was silent "Ah fantastic, I will be right there" He hung up and turned toward the couple "I got business to attend you kids, don't get into too much trouble while I am gone," and walked out.

 **ooooooooOOOOOO what do the capsules do? Who knows?**

 **Please Review, no harm in asking right?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Good evening everybody and happy Tuesday. Here is chapter 8 so please sit back and enjoy.**

Kate was standing inside a psychic shop in a small town in Georgia waiting for the cashier to get the woman who owned the place. The room smelled like strong tea and mothballs, was it aesthetic appeal to have cobwebs hanging from the ceiling? Did tourists like that kind of thing? Do they think if it looks old it must be authentic? Kate wondered to herself looking around the establishment.

A younger woman came through the employee door, the owner's daughter, and definitely not who Kate was expecting. "Grace," Kate greeted "It's good to see you, how have you been? Where is your mother?" Not lingering on the pleasantries and getting right to business. Grace looked a little uncomfortable; they never talked much, she would just watch as her mother worked with Kate years past.

"She passed away a few month ago, I run this place now." Grace was very young and not the most talented witch, her mother would tell Kate that she shunned her teachings for a long time. The fact that this very inexperienced witch was now responsible for this job was not good news.

"I am sorry for your loss, your mother was a great woman." She offered her sincere apologies before she continued "I am sorry to have to come at such a bad time, but you are aware of the business your mother and I had?" Grace nodded "Fantastic, it seems that time has come around and I need a refill." Grace looked even more uncomfortable, "do you have them Grace?"

"I am sorry, I know I was supposed to take on my mother's responsibilities after she passed but…"

"Did you contact another witch to fill out your turn in the cycle?" Kate asked, her voice developing a sharp edge. Grace shook her head, she was getting scared, she heard rumors about this woman and did not want to be on her bad side. "Grace, are you aware of the severity of what is happening right now?" Grace nodded "And did you just decide that that was not important when you neglected your responsibilities?"

"I…I have the spell in mother's book, I have watched her make it tons of times"

"And how long will that take Grace?" She asked through clenched teeth

"Seven days." She rushed out. Kate mentally counted her stash in her purse, she had twelve left.

"Fuck" She muttered, she couldn't stay here for seven days. And that was if it went perfectly the first time, which she was not too confident about. "I can't wait seven days Grace" she scribbled down an address on a piece of paper. "When you have it perfect please overnight it to this address. We're gonna be cutting it _very_ close Grace." The girl took the address and nodded. "Show me the recipe, there is a witch where I am staying, I would like her trying too." Grace seemed hesitant to allow another's eyes to see inside her mother's book. Witches were like that, territorial of their family grimours. "It is a hard spell Grace, you have never done it and I am running low. I am going to have another witch working on it as well, to increase my odds." Her voice got low again, the malice cutting through the room like a knife through warm butter, commanding the young witch "You will show me the spell Grace."

Grace nodded and disappeared to the back, reemerging with a large leather book that had a page already marked by a red velvet tassel. Grace opened the book for Kate to look at, who proceeded to take photos of every line of instruction and note in the margins. "I am really sorry Kate." Without another word Kate nodded, turned on her heel and walked out the shop back to her car. Her head was pounding and her vision was going fuzzy, she reached into her purse and took a capsule "eleven left" She muttered as she pulled away from the curb back to Mystic Falls.

She drove as fast as her car would take her while avoiding accidents and compelling her way out of two tickets. She needed to get back to the Salvatore's boarding house, not that she was looking forward to Damon and Stefan's disappointed looks. She pulled into their driveway, gathered her things and made her way into the house.

When she closed the door behind her she heard Damon talking on the phone in an angry voice. When the living room came into view she saw Mason sitting chained to a chair, head leaning against his chest, and hunched forward. Mason's heart was in Damon's hands and Katherine's voice was coming from the other end, made a threat and hung up. "What have you done?" Kate whispered Damon whirled around to face her astonished expression. "What have you done!"

"Mason almost had us killed, he had to go" He tried to defend his motives

"Not that, you don't need to condone killing to me. I understood that he was a threat, Damon. I was going to help you handle it when I got back! You know, planning! Not ripping his heart out because he taunted you about Katherine!" You could still push Damon over the edge by bringing up Katharine and telling him the truth he neglected to face for so long. It pissed her off.

"How do you know that he was taunting me?" Damon accused and Kate could feel her face tighten and her head pound.

"Because it always comes down to that!" She yelled, nails biting into her palms, eyes dilating and the purple ring around her irises coming through "But your continuous jealousy surrounding Katherine is beside the point Damon. You just poked the damn rattle snake, Katherine is always a wild card and now you've made it worse because you just plain pissed her off!" She said between harsh breaths, suddenly dropped her bags and swayed.

"Kate!" He yelled in shock and grabbed her by the shoulders "You have to calm down" Her eyes opened and the violet ring was larger, her pants here shallower. "Fuck" Damon muttered

"It hurts Damon" She went to clutch her head but Damon stopped her by grabbing her hands

"I know honey, look at me though." She ignored him, closing her eyes and Damon clutched her hands harder "Baby you gotta look at me" She opened her eyes and stared at Damon "good girl, focus" Her breaths continued their fast pace and she threw a desperate glance to her purse.

"Damon…" She pushed out of her tightening throat.

"No, you don't need that." He urged "Come on you're okay." He said softly drawing her focus onto his blue eyes, and away from the pounding in her head "We've done this before, come on" He watched her blink and slow her breaths, the purple ring disappearing. "There you go," he said with a smile taking her into a hug. "You're late," He said after a minute.

"There was a problem." She answered simply, wiggling out of his hold "We aren't off you yet" She glanced at Mason again. "What are we gonna do?"

"I'll get rid of the body in a few minutes and we can talk about what to do about Katherine later. I will follow your lead on that," He rushed out. "Now that we are off of me, what happened?"

"Meredith died a few months back, her daughter took over her business but was late to the magic-loving party. She neglected her responsibility to develop my refill." Kate told him glancing at her bag again. "Grace says it'll take 7 days to get the spell right and she can overnight it. But, that's if it goes perfectly the first time which I am not confident about." She looked at him "7 days Damon if it's perfect, and I have eleven left." She leaned back and rubbed the back of her neck, hating her luck.

"It'll work, you'll get them," Damon assured

"I have images of the spell, I was hoping Bonnie could give it a try. Stefan said she's talented and I thought it would be better if I had two witches trying at once." Damon nodded and took out his phone to text Stefan to ask Bonnie for a favor. "I'm becoming more sensitive, taking them two times a day more often." She mentioned looking down.

"I helped you from taking another one when you feel the headaches I'll help you calm down and focus so you don't need another one." He assured her, she nodded and stood up.

"Let's get rid of the body and call your gang so we can come up with a plan. I can talk to Bonnie alone about the spell." She said, swinging her arms to get herself moving. Damon just nodded and together they got Mason's body off of the chair and onto the carpet. "I gave you too many ideas on torture" she joked

"Please, I am creative too, I made up some of my own." He joked back as they rolled up the carpet and Stefan came walking into the living room staring at the scene in shock. "We'll get into it when everyone gets here." He hoisted Mason onto his shoulder "I'll be back, you gonna be okay?" He asked Kate who just waved him off with a smile.

A few minutes later Bonnie and Caroline walked into the living room. " How was your trip?" Stefan asked after a second as the girls settled on the couch.

"I don't really wanna talk about it," Kate answered and answered her ringing phone. "Hello? Yes hello Delilah, I am doing fine and my trip is going well. Thank you again for booking my flight on such short notice." There was a pause as the woman on the other side spoke. Kate let out a sigh, "Put them through, I shouldn't have left you to deal with this." She started pacing and her back straightened. Everyone was looking at her.

"Good evening gentlemen, how was your trip back to Transylvania?" There was some more talking on the other line "I do apologize for having to cancel our face to face, I had an urgent matter outside the state, however, I did have Delilah assure you that I would contact you to reschedule." There was more talking of the other line "Then why in the world would you be contacting my assistant insisting you speak to me? Gentlemen we have been doing business for quite sometime, and if you are unable to wait for the results you know I produce then you are welcome to go elsewhere. Just never contact me again for contracts in the future. Do you understand?" She said, ice in her voice.

A smirk crossed her face "As always, a pleasure doing business with you and I will put you back on with my assistant to take down the best way to contact you. Have a nice evening." With that, she hung up her phone and put it in her pocket. She looked at the group that was staring at her, two other men had joined their group: one in his early forties/late thirties and another that appeared to be sixteen. She offered them a smile.

"Hello, I'm Kate" She greeted, to which the others introduced themselves as Alaric and Jeremy

"Kate?" Caroline asked cautiously, "What exactly do you do?"

"Oh, I'm…" She began but was interrupted by Damon who was wiping his hands

"She is a supernatural bounty hunter, assassin if you will." He answered with a smirk

Caroline laughed "No really."

"He's right, those of the supernatural world, and sometimes not, contract me to find and bring in certain people. Sometimes it's authority figures looking for criminals, others it's someone with a grudge or those who are drawing too much attention." She explained a bit "you probably don't want to know more than that."

"And these two haven't come across your contracts?" Alaric joked

"More than once, but the Salvatore brothers are under my protection." She sat down and explained. "If someone is stupid enough to hire me for one of them I decline and follow their movements to see if they go somewhere else." They all looked at her nervously. "I do have morals if that's what you're wondering."

"Alaric is a sort of our local vampire hunter, a lower rank of what you do but he does it for free," Damon said and Alaric smirked

"Never offer what you can do for free when someone will probably pay for it." She laughed

"You should show her your toys Rick, she'd love them," Damon smirked and Rick became slightly uncomfortable.

"What kind of things do you have? How did you build them?" Kate ignored the older man's discomfort with her excitement.

"I've made a few bombs that explode with vervain and…"

"Can we get back to why we're here?" Bonnie asked. Damon explained, in not great detail what happened with Mason and Stefan informed Damon and Kate what happened with Elena's aunt and how she was in the hospital. Katherine demanded that Stefan bring her the moonstone to the masquerade at the Mayor's house.

"How did we get the moonstone? I thought Mason had it?" Kate asked confused.

"Stefan jumped into a well filled with vervain to get it, and Elena had to go in after him." Caroline explained

"Oh god, are you okay?" Kate asked worried, Stefan just nodded "So what is the plan? We can't just give it to her."

"But if we don't she'll probably kill Jenna next time" Jeremy countered

"Easy," Damon said handing a glass of blood to Kate while sipping on his own "We kill her." Kate just stared at him

"Are you sure you can do that brother?" Stefan asked, unconvinced.

"It's the only option, and don't worry about me." Damon answered

"Okay it's settled, we will meet her at the party and kill her." Kate summed up "Bonnie, do you think you can replicate the spell that locked those vampires in the tomb? It won't have to be for long."

"I can." She said confidently sitting up straighter.

"Great, Bonnie will place the spell on one of the upper rooms of the house before the party begins. Then Damon and Stefan will lead her up there with the promise of the moonstone. The spell won't be lifted until there is a stake through her heart." Kate explained further

"We're gonna have to keep Elena at home, we can't have the two of them floating around at the party," Bonnie said.

"I can keep her there," Caroline said

"I can too, we are going to be bringing Jenna home from the hospital and I was going to help out anyway." Rick offered.

"Fantastic, tonight we kill that bitch," Damon said as Kate watched him sip his drink. Damon was the picture boy for calm and ease, like killing the woman he loved for over a hundred years was as simple as deciding what to drink.

Everyone got up to leave and get ready for the night "Bonnie can I speak to you?" Kate asked Bonnie nodded "Upstairs?" She nodded again and followed up the stairs. When they entered Kate's room she lit a bundle of sage and let it smoke. "A witch gave me the trick once, it stops prying ears. And Stefan is frantic enough. I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?" Bonnie asked, a bit hesitant. Kate pulled out a green capsule from her purse and handed it to Bonnie.

"As you know I am not human, but I am not entirely vampire either. What I am has a side effect that I have been working with witches for centuries to keep in check. We finally came up with a spell that has been put into capsule form that I take when needed. Lately it has been everyday, sometimes more. I have a group of witch families that rotates the production of my supply. Unfortunately a new witch has neglected her responsibility, she says she can get it done in 7 days, if it goes well. That is cutting it close and I was hoping I could have you working on it as well to increase my odds." Kate asked as Bonnie studied the capsule.

"How many do you have left?" She asked

"Eleven, I was going to give you that one to study, which will make it ten. You are under no obligation to help me, and I won't hold it against you if you didn't. Stefan has just told me that you are very talented and I was hoping you would help." Kate confessed.

"What happens if you run out?"

"It is very painful; it starts with headaches that feels like my brain is on fire and my vision blurs, that leads to body tremors, uncontrollable urges, irrational anger. It feels like every vein in my body is filled with acid until my instincts take over and I pretty much am a monster." Bonnie was silent "If I am asking you to do this I am not going to lie to you."

"And this controls all that? You take it every day?"

"No, the likelihood comes and goes. Kind of like a roller-coaster" She admitted "The witches have developed a plan B if I don't get the capsule in enough time to stop the effects"

"What is that" Bonnie asked

"That I don't need to tell you." She smiled "Do I have your help?" Kate asked sweetly.

"Yes, I will help you," Bonnie answered after a long pause. Kate left out a breath she didn't know she was holding and wrapped the young woman in a hug.

"Thank you, thank you!" Bonnie and her exchanged numbers and Kate sent the photographs. "It makes a decent amount, and the end bit puts them in the capsules I believe. You can keep that one for now" She pointed to the pill Bonnie was still holding. "But when I get down to my last few I am going to need that back." Bonnie nodded and placed it safely in her purse.

"I will start reviewing it tonight before the party"

"Thank you again" Bonnie made her way downstairs and walked passed Damon who was holding the door

"Thank you Bonnie" She just nodded and made her way outside and into her car.

"She's going to help, that's great," Damon said standing in Kate's doorway as she sat on her bed.

"It's still going to be a close call, do you remember what to do if I get too far?" She asked looking at her hands. Damon moved quickly to sit beside her and let her lean into him.

"It won't come to that." He assured

"But if it does, I need to know you know what to do. Do we need to go over it?" She insisted.

"I will never forget what to do, it is burned into my mind." Kate nodded silently

"I was going to try and get a nap in before tonight, I am exhausted" Damon made his way to get up and leave her "You can stay if you have nothing else to do." She smiled.

"Just trying to get me in bed again Kat nip?" He joked settling back down with her head on his chest.

"You see right through my games" she murmured as she fell asleep. Damon ran his hands through the tips of her hair as he followed her into slumber.

 **I hope you enjoyed it, if so a review will be much appreciated**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for the long wait, but here is a nice long chapter fo ya. Enjoy!**

A few hours later Kate's alarm went off causing both sleepers to stir. Kate reached over and shut off the god-forsaken piece of technology with her eyes still closed. "We gotta get up baby" a husky voice interrupted the new silence as a strong arm pulled her tighter.

"Don't call me baby Damon" She scolded with a small smile and turned to her back to stretch off her too long nap. In a quick motion, two blue eyes were staring down at her making her stop her movement. "Damon…" She said low.

"What is it Kat nip?" he asked innocently as he rested his weight in between her legs and arms on either side of her head. When she didn't answer he started leaning down to kiss her, but before he could reach his destination she had them flipped over so she was straddling his waist.

"I don't like feeling trapped." She said from her perch the last word coming out at a higher pitch when Damon's hands rested on her exposed legs.

"That's fine with me, I've always loved this view." He smirked, rubbing his thumbs against her flesh.

"We have to get up, have a lot on our agenda tonight." She made a move to get off, but his hands tightened their grip and he sat up. His eyes were searching hers for something, she ignored his burning gaze and forced herself off his form. He watched her move, staring at her from the bed with hurt in his eyes.

"Go on" she tilted her head toward the door with a sad smile "I want something dashing on my arm tonight to make every woman jealous." Damon got up, letting an easy smile grace his lips.

"So I should go naked?" He asked with a laugh and Kate burst out laughing, breaking the tension.

"I don't think that's considered dashing," She said after she caught her breath

"But it will make all the women jealous," He answered over his shoulder.

Kate shook her head at his antics as he left, leaving her alone in the big room. She let her eyes drift back to the empty bed, where the impression of their bodies still marred the perfect bed. She sighed, messaging at her tense neck and decided to focus on her hair, putting it in a messy low side bun and curling the few tendrils that she couldn't keep pinned back. She side swept her bangs, put on the five rings she wore every day and some berry lipstick. Laying her leather work bag on the bed she started outfitting herself with things she may need: strapping her knife to one thigh and a small sharp stake to the other. Lastly, she opened her closet and slipped her dress over her weapons, she brought a black lace overlay dress that had a keyhole back and reached her knees. Before she left her room she slipped on a pair of black peep toe heels and double-checked herself in the mirror. Perfect.

Everyone was gathered in the living room, getting ready for the big show of the evening when she made her way down the stairs. Alaric was showing Damon and Stefan one of the weapons he constructed, a cylinder barrel that was about three inches long and had two straps, one on each end.

"It works with compressed air" Alaric explained "The trigger is up here, and I have two different sizes. I suggest this one, It'll fit under your jacket sleeve." He slid it over his naked arm, tightening the straps and pulled his sleeve over the contraption, a second later there was the sound of a release and a wooden stake was protruding from the wall. Both men grinned at the outcome and picked up the others to examine them.

Kate's eyes widened, looking as excited as a kid in a candy shop "You don't happen to have one I could use?" She asked as they looked to her, she picked up one of the weapons and quick as lightning shot the center of one of the wall panels.

"That was awesome!" Jeremy exclaimed

"I don't think Ric has one small enough for you to hide in that dress" Damon answered staring at her legs. Kate put the weapon down and smiled, letting her fingers linger on the cool metal.

"It's okay, I'm already prepared."

"With what?" Bonnie asked an edge to her tone.

"Let me guess" Damon started, circling Kate a few times letting his eyes roam up and down her form. She forced herself to remain still against his scrutinizing stare "Trusty knife, right thigh, two small stakes on the left." Kate nodded in confirmation and Damon stopped behind her and tapped a hairpin "These tiny bastards are made of wood and are sharpened to a needle point. "

"That is prepared,k" Ric said trying to see her hairpins.

"Women gotta work with what they got" Kate smiled "Can't always have fancy toys, even though I may need to keep one of those." She smiled sweetly at Ric.

"I'm not sure you need another toy Kate. We all ready?" Stefan asked, "If you want to back out, do it now." He said sternly adjusting his jacket sleeve to cover the weapon Ric had provided.

"We can't afford this going wrong if someone gets cold feet." Damon continued, everyone nodded, but no one spoke up about backing out. "Perfect, let's go kill the bitch."

Everyone started to file out of the house to their positions when Damon grabbed Kate's arm. She looked up at him confused and he pulled a mask from behind his back. It was black made entirely out of lines and a few gems. "You're gonna stick out if you don't have one." He explained as she took it.

"Thanks" She smiled and took his arm to let him lead her to his car.

Kate stands between Damon and Stefan in the lit backyard of the Lockwood's looking around for Katherine. Mrs. Lockwood spared no expense when decorating her large home, the yard was covered with a wooden dance floor, lights twinkled and cascaded from the trees providing a luxurious atmosphere. There was no shortage of food or drink, a waiter in a perfectly pressed uniform was always available when one's glass emptied.

"Do you see her?" Kate asks, trying not to be too obvious as she sips her champagne.

"Nope," Stefan answers and looks to Damon "Are you sure you can do this?" Damon looks at him confused and Kate watches him from the corner of her eye awaiting his answer.

"Who are you talking to?" Damon challenges obnoxiously looking behind him to prove a point.

"Oh, right I had a chance to kill her and I hesitated." Stefan mocked referring to the time he had her trapped in their basement.

"That is the difference between us brother, I don't hesitate"

"You did spend 145 years loving her, it's a possibility that you may not have the nerve to do this," Stefan warned. Kate finished her drink and walked toward a man holding a tray to grab another one.

"I won't hesitate" Damon urged again, watching Kate take a gulp of her new drink. "We need to mingle and stop looking like observers" Damon stated, putting down his glass "Let's dance." He offered his hand to Kate.

"We're here on business Damon, not to dance." She said, ignoring his hand

"We can look and dance, it will allow us to move around." Kate continued to just look at his hand "Come on, people will ask questions if I bring a beautiful woman and not even dance with her," He pleaded.

"I would hate to wrack your street cred" She joked and put her own glass down. "You gonna be okay?" She asked Stefan

"Oh of course, go have fun." He waved them off "I'll just wait here plotting revenge alone."

"Don't give yourself an ulcer brother." Damon joked as he swept her off. Damon placed a hand on her hip and she on his shoulder as they began a waltz. Both were beginning to relax, even though they were sure to keep an eye out for Elena's look alike.

"Are you going to be okay?" Kate asked as they moved to the music.

"I will be perfectly fine, the sooner we deal with her the better" Kate nodded, unsure how to take his cool demeanor "I am serious Kate, I'm fine"

"I believe you" She smiled at her partner while trying to sound confident. A few minutes later Kate nods her head toward Stefan who had moved to the dance floor, only he was not alone.

"It seems we have company," Kate said lowly, trying to listen in on their conversation. They listened to Stefan ask for everyone's safety and Katherine ask for the moonstone. They were going back and forth about getting the moonstone when a girl approached Katherine, thinking it was Elena. Saying she'd fix the girl's necklace Katherine snapped her spine, Kate made a move to act but was held back by Damon.

"She doesn't know we're here and we gotta go to the room to prepare soon without her noticing" Damon warned as Katherine killed the girl and pushed her into Stefan's arms, then walking away. "Fuck" When Katherine left the area they went to go help a frantic Stefan.

"I'll take the body to the car." Kate said leaning the girl against her and walked away, portraying a girl helping her drunk friend home.

"Let's go, the room is ready," Damon said to Stefan leading him inside. "We'll dump the body when we get back"

"I didn't want anyone getting killed Damon." Stefan argued once they reached the prepped empty room.

Damon ran his hands through his hair "Its collateral damage, it happens".

"We need to call it off." Stefan said quietly, the shock of the situation causing him to lose his nerve.

"What?" Damon growled "Don't do this to me!" He placed his hands on his brother's shoulders, looking him in the eye "This woman ruined our lives, she destroyed us! Tonight it ends." He gave a reassuring squeeze "We can do it together. I got your back. Alright?"

Stefan nodded, taking a deep breath "Alright".

Damon sent a quick message to Jeremy, telling him it was his turn to lure Katherine to the lake, which he knew Katherine would be suspicious of and threaten Caroline to spill. Which she will tell Katherine that Bonnie has the moonstone and is in this room, effectively leading her into the trap.

On Kate's way back to the mansion she noticed a third figure huddled where Bonnie and Jeremy were supposed to be. She blurred over when she heard a familiar voice. "What the hell are you doing here Elena?" She asked hands on her hips in a low tone.

"You guys are trying to kill her here?" Elena accused, ignoring Kate's question.

"We saw an opportunity and we took it.' Jeremy argued.

"Stop with the 'we', are you guys crazy?" She screeched "You're gonna get yourselves killed"

"We know what we're doing Elena," Kate and Bonnie said together

"And how am I supposed to feel if one of you guys gets hurt because of me?"

"She's messed with us all, she has to be stopped," Jeremy said slowly

"It's not just you anymore, hell it was going on before you" Kate added. "Fuck, do you know how much more dangerous you have made this?" Kate said rubbing the back of her neck. "Don't leave this spot!"

Suddenly Elena screams and there is blood pooling from her back, followed by her arm opening up in a ghostly gash. "What the hell is happening?" Jeremy says frantically trying to stop the bleeding.

"There was another witch, I felt her. She must have created a link between Elena and Katherine, you have to get them to stop!" Bonnie yelled sending Jeremy toward the house in haste.

"Bonnie, connect me," Kate said strongly, taking a capsule as a precaution.

"What?"

"You can connect me and what happens to Katharine will happen to me instead, it will lessen her pain." Kate argued

"Can you handle that?" Bonnie asked, but ready to do the spell anyway.

"You have no idea what I can handle" Bonnie starts chanting and Kate can feel her back and arm start to burn, there was no blood since Katherine had most likely already healed but the irritation and pain remained. "Done" Kate nodded, stooping down to feed Elena her blood. She feels a constricting of her throat, cutting off her air, someone was choking Katherine. But she gets up to run after Jeremy anyway ignoring her body's natural reaction to need oxygen.

"Done" Kate nodded, stooping down to feed Elena her blood and watched as the girl started to relax. She suddenly feels a constricting of her throat, cutting off her air, someone was choking Katherine, she can feel their fingers squeeze her neck. But she gets up to run after Jeremy anyway ignoring her body's natural reaction to need oxygen.

Jeremy arrives right before Damon is about to take his kill shot "Stop!" Jeremy screams coming to the door, stopping Damon from finishing his mission. "You're hurting Elena! Everything you are doing is hurting Elena!"

"Fuck" Damon mutters as he gets up, kicking a low table over in frustration and Stefan releases Katherine.

"You think you two are the only ones with a witch on your side?" She taunts getting off the ground "Wrong and something tells me my witch is better than your witch"

Kate comes running through the hall to find the three vampires trapped in the room and Jeremy standing safely on the other side. "Go Jeremy. Check on Elena" She urges "The connection is broken, she should be coming around." Jeremy ran off and Kate looked at Katherine "You think your witch is better? Must be terrible being so disappointed. You can kill her now" She said confidently as the boys started turning toward Katherine.

"Impossible. I know that the witch that sets the spell has to lift the spell. And I know that she didn't lift anything." Katharine looked over at Kate as the brothers hesitated. "Bonnie could have rechanneled the connection though" With a smirk Katherine takes the stake she stole from the brothers and drives it into her own stomach with a small scream.

Kate sucked in a breath and doubled over, clenching her bleeding stomach. Damon rushes to the barrier of the room as Kate struggles to stand. "Kate!"

"Well well well, how touching" Katherine grunts, pulling the stake out and straightening her straining muscles, feeling them knit together. "What's it gonna be boys? You can kill one Katherine, but the other dies as well."

Kate straightened and stared at her "Do it" She urged

"No!" Both boys yelled

"We aren't sacrificing you" Stefan argued

"You can finally get rid of her." She pushed

"No," they both said again with force.

"Well that works for me." Katherine said as she sat down, leaning back into the chair and crossing her legs, looking all at ease "I guess whether it be you or Elena on the other end the result is the same. Sorry to burst your bubble Kate. By the way, I am a little surprised to see you here. What have you been up to?"

"You know, trying to kill you." Kate said sitting with her back against the wall outside the room.

After a few minutes of silence Katherine spoke up "The four of us just like old times. The brother who loved me too much, the one that didn't love me enough, and the girl who watched from the sidelines" She looked at each, in turn, Kate flipped her off when her gaze fell on her.

"And the vampire who only loved herself" Damon added

"What happened to you Damon? You used to be so sweet and polite?" Katherine asked.

"Oh that Damon died a long time ago" He answered

"Good, he was a bore"

"Oh why don't the both of you shut the hell up?" Kate growled from outside the room.

"Where is the moonstone?" Katharine piped up again

"What do you want with it?" Stefan asks. Katharine ignores him and instead starts antagonizing about Elena.

"Why don't you stop being so desperate Katherine." Damon growled

"What are you gonna do hurt me?" She challenged "When Kate will feel everything I feel and you can't reach her?" Damon growled again and glanced at Kate who was playing with her rings. "Or, you know what would be interesting?" Katherine looked at Stefan "Why don't you kiss me, she'd feel that too."

"Oh fuck you, Katherine," Kate said getting up to lean against the doorframe, careful not to enter.

"Have a little fun Kate," Katherine said moving closer to Stefan "I had my time with both, and it was exciting."

"You know the sound of your voice is like tiny fingernails being dragged against a blackboard inside my brain, so will you please just shut up?" Kate told her with a honey sweet tone.

Stefan ignored them both and asked why Katherine wanted the wolf to have the moonstone when it would not benefit her. Which just earned more taunting

"Where the hell is that witch?" Damon asked annoyed

"We could play charades" Katherine offered getting three annoyed looks

"You bargained the moonstone." Stefan tried again

"What are you going on about?" Damon asked

Stefan explained how she make a deal back in 1864 to fake her death for the moonstone which Katherine started clapping when he was done.

"Thanks to you, people found out I wasn't really dead. Have I mentioned how inconvenient your obsession with me has been?" She asked Damon

"You and me both" he growled back and looked over to Kate who was quiet

"I heard about that" Katherine motioned toward Damon and Kate "How'd that work out? It must have felt good to say my name in bed Damon and have it still work for you." Katherine laughed and Kate flipped her off again.

"Why do you need it back?" Stefan tried again

"I love you in a suit, so dashing" She countered turning her gaze back to him but ignoring his question.

"What were you doing with it in the first place?"

"Oh for god sakes, you're wasting your breath, Stefan" Damon said. However Katherine and Stefan just kept going back and forth and Damon pushed a chair outside the door for Kate to sit down and tried to offer her a reassuring smile. He went to pour himself two glasses of scotch and pushed one through the doorway as well getting a small laugh from Kate.

"I'll have one of those" Katherine says from her seat

"Right away Miss Katherine," he said with a servant's voice handing her a glass. A second later he had her pushed against the wall and Kate left out a huff of air, but didn't say anything.

"Damon don't!" Stefan yelled

"Yes Damon, please" Katherine breathed out huskily. Damon looked back at Kate who saluted her glass before taking a sip.

"The moment the spell is lifted, I'm driving a stake through your heart" He threatened

"God, you're hot. When did you get so hot?" Katherine asked, rubbing a thigh against the inside of his leg, Damon dropped her instantly and downed his abandoned drink.

"I wonder if this connection goes both ways?" Kate asked, eyeing her glass.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked and jumped as the glass crushed in her hands, glass, and drops of blood falling to the floor as Kate stared greedily at the mirroring drops that fell by Katherine's feet. "Very interesting"

"Kate…" Damon warned and cautiously approached the doorway.

"What are you going to do? Kill yourself to kill me?" Katherine laughed. Kate met her eyes and drew one of the wooden pins from her hair. She watched as Katherine trembled under her gaze "You wouldn't"

With a vicious smile Kate plunged the pin a centimeter from her heart, tears filled her eyes and breathing became labored. Katherine's skin paled slightly and she clutched at her chest, trying in vain to remove the intrusion. "Oops." Kate pushed through her teeth.

"For fuck's sake!" Damon growled pushing against the barrier "Don't you fucking dare!"

"Relax Damon" Kate urged, twisting the pin and watched as Katherine buckled. "I'm not going to kill myself, but that doesn't mean I am going to let this moment slip by."

"I will not sit here and watch you hurt yourself!"

"Kate stop!" Stefan yelled from behind Damon.

"I can handle the pain, but it seems Katherine is having a tougher time" Kate slowly removed the pin, watching Katherine's labored breath and stood up, as if nothing happened, as she heard footsteps coming from down the hall and an African American woman came into view with the moonstone behind her back. The woman winked to Kate.

"Katherine, the spell on this room has been broken, you can leave"

"Oh thank god," She said between labored breaths, standing and going to the door

"When I hand this over, my debt is paid to you." The witch said, still clutching the stone.

"Done" Katherine spit out.

"I will owe you nothing" She urged when she handed over the moonstone Katherine could no longer breath, while Kate remained perfectly at ease. "you should have told me another witch was involved. She's a Bennett witch, Katherine, but I'm sure you knew that." She looked toward the brothers "I am sorry for my involvement", leaving an unconscious Katherine.

Stefan left to go check on Elena to make sure she was okay and Damon exited the room to stand in front of Kate. He bit his wrist and offered it to her, she just shook her head "I don't need that" She answered, looking at Katherine

"I never do this as a suggestion." He argued "you were stabbed in the stomach and I don't know when you took the original wounds from Elena, that could also be the back and shoulder. Not to mention the game you played." He pushed his wrist forward angrily

"What are you going to do with her?" Kate ignored him stubbornly. He dropped his wrist and looked down at the fallen woman.

"Put her where she should have been for the last 145 years." Kate laughed to herself and looked into his eyes

"You can't kill her" She stated and continued before he could speak "I get it, 'it's revenge, she doesn't deserve death, she should have been there anyway.' Those are great reasons, but it doesn't change the fact that when it comes down to it you can't kill her."

Damon tried to grab her hand but it slipped through his "I don't love her Kate"

"But you still can't let her go." She massages the back of her neck "it's okay, we're okay." She assured, not that he believed her. "You should take her there before she wakes up. I will see you at home" She offered a small smile and left Damon standing with the unconscious woman who ruined his life.

 **I hope you liked it and if you did don't be afraid to tell me. I would really appreciate some feedback. Have a lovely January Night**


	10. Chapter 10

**Happy Saturday my lovelies, please enjoy**

* * *

Katherine awoke laying on a hard stone floor with the moonstone laying right next to her. She reaches for it and gets up triumphantly smirk prominent on her features, however when she tries to leave an invisible barrier stops her. She bangs on the invisible force, cursing under her breathe, color slowly draining from her face.

"Hello, Katherine" Damon's voice comes out of the darkness, arms crossed over his broad chest. His eyes are cold as he looked at the woman who caused him so much pain, the one he thought for too long that he loved.

"Where am I?"

"Where you should have been all along. I thought you'd have learned your lesson by now, messing with a Bennett witch." He taunted, trademark smirk slowly growing

"You should have killed me" voice level.

"Death would have been too kind to you," He reasoned.

"I am sure that is exactly how Kate sees it." She said and Damon growled "No matter what she does, she is always second best. First to me and now to Elena."

"No, not now," he said simply and started to close the door.

"Wait! Damon, don't. You need me, Elena is in danger. And if Kate is still here she will be too." She tried to bargain.

"From who?" He got no answer "You're lying, you always lie."

"Why do you think I haven't just killed her? She is the doppelganger, you know that she needs protection."

"Then we'll protect her, while you rot in your own personal hell." He said and closed the door, secluding the woman in darkness. She bangs on the stone when it does not budge she drops to the ground with tears in her eyes clawing her fingers into the black dirt.

With the moon high overhead, Elena crosses the parking lot of the Lockwood's talking on the phone with Jeremy. Once she hangs up a man comes behind her, knocks her out and stashes her in the trunk of his car, driving out into the night.

Back at the boarding house, Stefan walks into the living room to see Kate mixing a drink, still in her blood stained clothes. Her dress was ruined and her hair had fallen out of its delicate updo "Where's Damon?" He asked grabbing the drink Kate handed him.

"Dealing with Katherine" She clipped out, taking a pin out of her hair that had been slipping out and tossed it on the coffee table.

"That's a good thing right?" Stefan asked confused, taking a sip of the amber liquid and allowing the warmth to flow down his throat. The glass was almost full, he raised his eyebrows at the amount with surprise.

"You can ask him when he gets back," She said, massaging her neck and taking a sip of her own drink.

"You look terrible," He said quietly sizing her up, she looked like hell. She would have to get rid of the dress since blood was crusting to the tears, her eyes looked dull and had dark circles around them, her mouth cracked and he noticed a sligh tremor of her hands.

"That's not nice, don't you want to know what it would be like to kiss me?" She joked making absurd kissing sounds, Stefan gave her a mocking suggestive look that made her laugh.

"When was the last time you fed?" He asked

"Early this afternoon," She said with a shrug, holding his eyes.

"You know what I meant, I know blood only does so much for you. And Damon told me you haven't gotten your refill."

"Traitor" she muttered under her breath.

"Come on." He grabbed her glass and put it down.

"I don't want to hurt you Stefan," She warned.

"We've done this before. I can take it. Just make it short and don't change anything," He joked.

"This is serious, are you sure?" She said slowly and he nodded. "Okay, you can pick, keep it short. I promise I won't pry." They stared into each other's eyes and Kate placed the palms of her hands to Stefan's temples. He watched as her eyes turned green, mirroring his and he was thrust back into his own mind. He relived the first time he told Elena he loved her, but felt a strange presence, like a shadow lurking over his shoulder. He could tell it was threatening to ruin something, but he could do nothing to warn Elena or get them away. He just continued his actions like a robot, until they kissed and he was thrust back to the present.

Kate's face came back into view, the veins under her eyes pulsing and eyes still green, fading back to brown. She withdrew her hands and ran up to her room. Coming back with dark chocolate in her hand, veins had vanished and color returned to her face. "Here, eat this, it will make you feel better," She offered him the chocolate.

"I forgot how foreign it feels" He breathed out, feeling a little dizzy and sitting down. She pushed the chocolate closer to his face and he took it, taking a bite.

"Thank you, Stefan, I hate having to do that to friends," She smiled at him. "Well, I'm feeling the residual lust you had for Elena in that moment and it's freaking me out so I'm going to take a shower and get changed. If you start seeing things you shouldn't, call me." He let out a forced laugh, took a bite of chocolate as she walked up the stairs.

Damon walked into the house moments later to Stefan sitting by the fire with a drink in one hand and a bar of chocolate in the other, he hadn't moved. "Is it done?" he asked staring at the fire, looking a little dazed.

Damon automatically went to get a drink for himself "She is locked in the tomb, she won't be leaving anytime soon," Stefan looked at his brother.

"You should have killed her."

"Don't you think death is more than she deserves?" He asked seriously "She ruined us, Stefan." He paused "I could have been happy," He said quietly.

"I'm sorry," He looked down guiltily "You still can".

"We will see," Damon said sullenly. "Where is Kate?" He asked looking at the chocolate then around, hoping to see her.

"Upstairs, she is in the shower." Stefan answered looking at the chocolate too "She wasn't looking good, she needed to."

"I know, I should have made her a while ago," Damon said running his hands through his hair. "Thanks, Stef." He said and made his way up the stairs. He passed the hall bathroom as well as her room, sensing both empty when he heard a shower running from further down the hall, his shower. He smiled to himself as he entered his steamy bathroom and watched Kate through the fogged glass.

"That's creepy you know," Her voice floated above the running water.

"It is my bathroom, I considered it an invitation." He challenged, but not moving.

"I wanted a shower, and I knew you had the best one in the house. Sometimes your spoils benefit me." She said as she continued to wash. Her blurry frame was torturing him, and she knew it.

"Do you need any help in there? I would be happy to be of assistance." He smirked, leaning against the wall. The water shut off and her hand poked from behind the door.

"Could you hand me my towel?" She requested and Damon noticed she left it on the sink.

He sucked a breath through his teeth and paused for a second "You know what, I don't think I can reach that." Her face appeared in the crack with an 'are you shitting me' look and he laughed shrugging his shoulders.

"Do you really want to do this?" She challenged "You really wanna look even though you know you can't touch" they heard Stefan mutter 'you've got to be kidding me' followed by the front door opening and shutting.

Damon smirked and shrugged looking at the far away towel and back at her face. They were both stubborn and he was determined to win, make her plead for the towel. He saw her back straighten through the treated glass, slick her hair back, and did the last thing he'd expect. She opened the door the rest of the way and stepped out of the shower. She looked at his wide-eyed gaze as he looked at her naked frame.

Without saying a word she smiled sweetly at him and walked to the sink to retrieve her towel. She didn't cover herself right away, she used it to dry her damn hair first, looking at him through the mirror. When she lifted her arm he saw a fish painted on her ribcage, about the size of a lemon 'that's new' he thought.

She knew she was playing with fire, and this type of action did not seem logical when she just recently left him to deal with the woman he loved for over a hundred years. She wished he killed Katherine, but she knew why he didn't. That didn't make it any easier to handle, she wanted to be what he wanted, but at the moment she could settle for what he needed.

"I don't think I have ever seen Damon Salvatore lost for words." She breathed, voice taking on a sultry tone "Not even when you were profusely bleeding in the hospital wing, you still flirted with the nurses" She turned to face him "What's the matter soldier, cat got your tongue?" He felt his eyes start to change and his pants tighten when she whispered the nickname she used to have for him.

"I will take you right on that sink if you are not careful Kat nip." He let out huskily and watched her shiver as she realized that she was taunting a caged beast. 'What the hell was she doing?' She thought. She didn't let her posture slacken, she wouldn't show weakness.

"What if I don't want to be careful, soldier?" she whispered her eyes staring hotly at him. Scanning his loose tie and button up white shirt, she bit her lip as she imagined ripping it off him. She heard Damon growl and watched as he stalked toward her, going painfully slow. She felt her bare waist hit the marble sink, realizing she was backing up and that she was naked, really naked. She looked down at herself and then back up at Damon, who was closing the gap. He stopped a foot away as he observed her, wondering if she was hesitating. Without taking her eyes off him she grabbed his tie and pulled his face down toward her and captured his lips, letting his taste fill her mouth.

After a few seconds of heated kissing, she pulled away to go on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear. "Are you making threats that you don't plan to keep Damon? I thought I taught you better than that." She breathed and took his earlobe between her teeth, earning a groan. His strong hands circled her waist and hoisted her on the edge of the sink and captured her lips again fiercely.

He broke away to watch her pant and lick her lips "Never" he growled out and Kate grabbed for his loose tie, pulling it over his head. She moved to work on his buttons as Damon went to suck on her neck, causing her to fumble with the little obstructions "Fuck Kat just rip it" he growled into her neck nipping with frustration. She took his instruction and pulled the buttons apart sending them into the air, sliding the now loose shirt from his shoulders. He stopped his assault on her neck to pull his undershirt over his head and she stared at his muscled chest.

- **Lemon starts here until end of chapter, if you would like to skip please move on to next chapter** -

She ran her fingernails over his chest, leaving marks while looking into his bright gaze, clouded with need. She bent forward to plant kisses on his neck and over the planes of his pecks, nipping and swirling her tongue as she went. His hands massaging her breasts as he looked down at her, running his thumbs over her nipples earning a moan and then rolling them between his fingers. He brought her chin back up to meet her lips with his, she tugged at his lip with her teeth to make him growl low in his throat. He abandoned her lips to trail down the side of her neck and capture one of her nipples in his mouth, rolling the other with his fingers. "Damon!" She squealed as he racked a fang against it, the slight pain running a shiver up her spine. He just laughed against her skin and repeated the same to her other one.

He pushed into her shoulder. encouraging her to lean back on her elbows as he kissed down her stomach, pulling her further off the edge of the sink to kneel in front of her. He looked up at her from between her legs to see the goddess staring at him through heavy lidded eyes "Damon," She whispered. He leaned forward to blow cool air on her heated core, causing her to squirm "Please Damon," She begged.

"I love those two words coming from you Kate" He smirked and bent his mouth forward, parting her with his fingers and placing the flat of his tongue against her. She sucked in a breath and gripped a hand in his hair as he worked. He used his fingers and his tongue to make her moan and hitch her breath. He felt her clench around his fingers and pulsed faster. "Come on baby, cum for me" He growled low and circled her nub with his tongue, pushing her over the edge. He continued his menstruations until she finished riding out her orgasm, licking her clean and kissed his way back up her body.

"Oh god" she murmured staring into his eyes

"The name is Damon, baby. But that's okay" He smirked and kissed her again; she could taste herself on his tongue, turning her on all over again. She wrapped her legs around him as he lifted her from the sink to carry her back to his bedroom "You better still have that stamina" He joked as he tossed her on his bed.

"Thought you were taking me on the sink?" She said as she sat up to crawl toward him. He ran his hand through her hair when she got closer and she sat up on her knees in front of him.

"Excuse me for thinking you'd be more comfortable out here." He looked at her softly and she smirked, running a hand over the hardened member still trapped in his pants. He growled and the veins in his eyes started working their way back to the surface

"That's right baby, don't hold back with me." She drawled out doing it again. His eyes completely changed and his fangs lengthened again, he loved that she never cowered from this and urged it out. Even with other vampires, some were too caught up in pretending they were perfectly human, and humans well, you had to be careful. She made quick work of his belt, button, and zipper, hooking her finger through the waste bands of his pants and underwear she slid them down his legs. He let out a breath as he broke free of those damn pants, looking into his eyes still she ran a nail feather light up his shaft, his head leaned back with a moan.

Before she could do much more he groaned out "Lay back on the bed". She looked at him a bit confused "Baby, I want you now." He said staring down at her and watching her crawl away from him to lie down, leaning on her elbow and looking impatient. He released the rest of himself from his pant prison and crawled on the bed over to her, his dog tags hanging down, clinking as he moved. She watched as her predator moved, muscled shoulders rising and falling as he crawled forward. She placed a foot lightly on his shoulder and let it slide back as he crawled over her. Capturing her lips in another heated kiss and without another word entered her in one swift movement, making her open her mouth in a silent 'Oh'.

"Fuck baby, you're so tight" Damon groaned pulling out almost all the way, only to thrust forward again.

"Oh fuck, I've missed this" Kate moaned lifting her hips to meet his thrusts "Harder" she breathed and Damon was nothing but happy to oblige as he drove into her.

"So good" he growled grabbing hold of her hand and pinning it to the bed above her head "God I've fucking missed you" quickening his pace again making Kate scream his name, he could feel her clench around him "come on baby, let go" He growled and bucked into her uncontrollably, he was so close. She flew over the edge and Damon soon followed, right into the void.

 **Thanks for reading, I hope you liked the little lemony goodness at the end.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Happy Monday Everybody! There is some lemon in the beginning of this chapter, you have been warned. And now for your reading pleasure...**

Kate lay pressed to Damon's side, head resting in the junction of his shoulder and their legs tangled together. Both were awake as they watched the mid-afternoonn sun move its way across the floor while Damon lazily traced the tattoo on Kate's side. "When did you get this?" He asked taking a closer look at it.

"Sometime in the 80's, a lot of drinking, a lot of punk, you know all the cools kids were doing it" She answered looking up at him "Do you like it?"

"I do, It was a nice little surprise" He grinned still studying it. "Very sexy"

"Aw, was my body not sexy enough for you before." She teased

"Don't even go there" he poked her side. "What happens now, " He asked slowly glancing at her closed eyes. She blinked them open, looked at him and rested her chin on his chest as she contemplated his question.

"I don't really want to think about it" she looked down to draw pointless shapes on his chest "There are still so many factors that are floating around, how you feel about Elena, the tension that causes with your brother, Katherine still being alive, us not being in the same room for the past decades." Her voice got quiet and she looked up at him again with a smirk.

"As far as I see it, we stepped into a different world last night. I don't want to think about that other world's problems. And those problems don't exist until we leave this bed and walk through that door." She sat up, the sheet falling around her and she went to straddle him, moaning as she lowered herself on his morning hardness her fingers flared behind her. "Are you happy right now?" She ask simply, leaning back on her hands and rocking her hips

Damon moaned and sat up to meet her, cupping her chin "So happy." He said softly and kissed her tenderly as she rode him.

Suddenly the door burst open making the couple jump apart for a second at the noise before Damon pulled Kate against him as she grabbed the sheet to hide from the intruder. "Fuck" They both screeched.

"Damon!" Stefan said hurriedly as he entered, he looked manic taking a second to realize that he walked in on a very naked Kate in the middle of fucking his very naked brother. "Oh shit!" he blushed and turned his face in another direction.

Kate started laughing at Stefan's visible discomfort, shifting from foot to foot, and Damon growled loudly. "God damn it Stefan! Don't you knock!" He yelled pulling the sheet closer to Kate, "Get the fuck out!" Damon jerked to throw a pillow at Stefan, bouncing her up and causing her to gasp.

"We have a problem!" Stefan urged, looking back to his brother, at her noise his gaze shifted to the parts of his oldest friend's naked body that were still exposed. Kate, starting to feel a little uncomfortable, did her best to wrap the sheet fully around her and made a move to get off of Damon, holding back another moan at the sensation of him moving inside her.

"I don't really care right now," Damon growled as he caught his brother staring "Get the fuck out!"

"Elena is missing." Stefan tried again, blinking his gaze away from Kate.

"Get. The. Fuck. Out" Damon said again, not really caring at the moment. No one sees her like that except him, especially his little brother.

"We'll be down in a minute, " Kate said as she stood the sheet wrapped tight, while also exposing Damon, who did not seem to care. Stefan nodded, turned on his heel and left, closing the door behind him.

Damon groaned and got out of bed to stand in front of Kate. "You didn't have to get so angry at him, he's worried." She reasoned

"You are naked, he got an eyeful of you naked." He growled out

"Don't be so territorial Damon"

" _He_ does not get to see" He got closer to her, sliding his hands into the sheet to rest one on her naked hip and the other to run a finger through her folds.

"I'm not that type of woman," She told him, looking dead into his eyes, trying not to moan. "The real world is calling" She whispered looking at the door.

"Give me a second" Damon said back and kissed her one more time while sliding a finger into her.

"Damon we gotta go" She groaned out as he began to kiss her neck and continue to pump her

"I know you want me again Kate. You want to get back on top of me" He growled into her neck "You want me to finish what you started" he racked a fang right under her ear and Kate moved her hands around him to pull him closer, dropping the sheet.

Damon walked downstairs to see the gang gathered in his living room. "Did you sleep all day?" Caroline asked

"I've been in bed all day" Damon answered with a smirk "What's going on?"

"Tyler killed someone at the party, that means he's triggered his curse right?" Caroline asked, "he'll turn into a werewolf?"

"Only on a full moon" Damon answered He heard Kate descend the staircase and appeared in a pair of leggings and an oversized shirt, her sex hair contained in a bun. Damon inwardly groaned and looked away to Stefan who averted his gaze from Kate. "You said Elena is missing?"

"Her bed hasn't been slept in and Tyler said her car is still at his place." Jeremy answered "I thought she spent the night here but Stefan says otherwise"

"It sounds like Katherine" Stefan verified, earning a glare from Damon

"Katherine is in the tomb, I shut her in." Damon said

"Did you?"

"Did I what, Stefan?" Sounding agitated, all he wanted was to throw Kate over his shoulder and take her back upstairs.

"Well, I know the hold that Katherine has on you." He accuses again, making Kate slightly uncomfortable.

"She is in the tomb. End of story, but she did say something about Elena being in danger before I shut her in." Damon remembered.

"And you didn't ask her to elaborate?" Stefan asked pinching the bridge of his nose, the rest of the gang silently watched the exchange.

"She always lies, how did I know she suddenly became honest?"

"You could have said something!"

"I had other things on my mind" Damon shrugged with a smirk

"I think I know exactly what you had on your mind" Stefan accused

"Is there something else you want to yell at me about? Maybe something more specific?"

"Well maybe if you thought with your head for once"

"I think we are getting off topic boys" Kate interrupted before a fight broke out.

"We have to go talk to her." Stefan said

"Hell no, if we ask for help she will negotiate her freedom and will kill us when we are stupid enough to give it to her."

"I don't care, it's Elena" He reasoned, and Damon wondered if it was enough "Can you help Bonnie?"

"I can't undo the spell on it, it killed my Grams last time we tried. And it is just me this time" She answered slowly

"But you can open the door, just to talk to her?"

"Yea, but I agree with Damon. She won't give anything up, unless she gets something in return." Damon gestured an 'I told you so'.

"I have to try! I have no idea where Elena is or who has her!"

Bonnie piped up with an idea "I have another way! I need candles and a map of the area!" The group disbursed to get what she needed. When it was all set up she turned to Jeremy "I'll need your blood to track her for the spell, since you are blood related the connection will be stronger." Jeremy nodded and offered his hand, the blood drops flowed to a place on the map as Bonnie muttered the spell. "That's where she is"

"That's such a large area!" Stefan growled

"We can use an aerial map to show us what's in the area, it will narrow it down." Jeremy offered

"That will be good enough, text me what you find." Stefan said, packing up the leftover weapons from the night before.

"I'm going with you." Jeremy argued

"No you're not," Both brothers said

"What if she's hurt! I can't just sit here."

"You will just get in the way Jeremy." Damon said

Stefan stared at his brother "You're coming?" Damon didn't say anything just walked out of the house, picking up the weapon bag as he went. Stefan looked at Kate before heading out of the house himself.

"Why was Stefan looking at you like that?" Jeremy asked confused to Kate who was still watching the door.

"He saw me naked," she said casually "and his little heart couldn't take it" Jeremy couldn't help but look at her up and down, she smirked "Be careful of your imagination, it's a dangerous place." He blushed and looked straight ahead, Kate started walking toward the stairs "Come on, let's see if you two can throw a punch, because if not it's time to learn."

Damon drove as fast as his car would go as Stefan riffled through the bag, pulling out a strange looking vial "What the hell is that?" Damon asked

"Some sort of grenade?" Stefan answered

"Alaric likes weapons too much" Damon reasoned "Something is not right in his head."

"Yea, Kate would have a field day with these. Of course she says she likes playing it closer in a fight, not one for long range attacks." At the mention of Kate, Damon gripped his steering wheel, knuckles turning white. "Sorry about earlier"

"Let's not talk about it." Damon warned

"I didn't mean to walk in and see that"

"You are never meant to see that, and you did" He growled "I get it was an accident, sure you were in a panic. But you stared Stefan. And you stared again when she came downstairs."

"Maybe you're right, we shouldn't talk about it." Stefan said looking out the window. "Who do you think took her?" He changed the subject

"Someone who thought it was Katherine and didn't realize they were wrong." Damon answered

"Thanks for helping me"

"Can we not try and road trip bond? The cliché of it makes me itch." Damon shivered.

"Come on Damon. We both know that you being here has nothing to do with me"

"I see the elephant in the room is making noise"

"It doesn't have to be an elephant, let's talk about it" Stefan challenged.

"There is nothing to talk about" Damon warned again

"That's not true. I am sure there is. Just get it out." Stefan continued "I mean, are you in this car because you want to help your little brother find the girl he loves. Or, even after the events that happened last night with Kate, you love her too? Hmmm? Come on Damon express yourself. I like this trip bonding."

"First off, never assume you know anything about Kate and I, and second I can step out of helping as easily as I stepped in." Damon growled

"That's the beauty of it, you can't," Stefan said leaning back in his seat. "How new was that tattoo anyway?" Stefan asked, pushing his luck, Damon slammed the car to a stop.

"I ought to rip your eyes out." Damon growled "And you're being a fucking asshole." He looked at Stefan thoughtfully "Which is weird for you to do on purpose. Normally you are more reserved and the silent brooding type. Which means, you're drinking human blood again" He accused and Stefan did not deny it. "Does Elena know?"

"I'm drinking hers" He answered

"How romantic" Damon said sarcastically starting to drive again. About an hour of silence later Stefan spoke up again

"We're getting close, Jeremy said it's just past marker 6"

Damon opens a blood bag and drinks, catching Stefan staring at him. "If you want some just ask. The cat is out of the bag anyway."

"I want some." Damon reached behind him to the cooler and tossed Stefan another one. "I've taken more and more each day, I'm building up my tolerance."

"Hey Stef?" Damon said and Stefan looked at him "I didn't ask. But since you want to bond so much, remember when you lived for ripping someone apart for the fun of it?"

"You mean like you?" Stefan shot back.

"Yes, Stefan, exactly. Back when you put blood into me so I could be a big bad vampire. I wonder if Elena would be so quick to open her veins to that guy. By the way, what happened to that guy? He was a riot."

"I guess he found something to live for." Stefan said

"That's cute, I had that once. And that guy tore it away from me" Damon accused

"Right, just blame me whenever something goes wrong in your life." Damon ignored him and parked the car a ways down from an abandoned house that held Elena.

"You do know that if we go into that house, we may not come back out," Damon said as they got out of the car. "If this is the person who was hunting Katherine, could be over 500 years old."

"Maybe we should have brought Kate. But if that is the case, I won't come out."

"You are a true knight in shining armor Stefan."

 **I hope you liked it!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Happy Sunday everyone who is reading my story, thank you for coming back! please enjoy**

The brothers pulled up to an abandoned two story house, the once pristine white paint grayed and greened with time and neglect was peeling off. The house sat on acres of land, the nearest neighbor miles away, the perfect place to hide someone. The brothers decided to split up, one scaling the side of the building to slip through an upstairs window and another sliding through the back door, proving that no human owned the house. Instead of slipping through silently Stefan broke a window to attract the kidnappers' attention, drawing them to the second floor. Once the man reached the landing Damon pushed over a dusty standing lamp in a first-floor room, bringing the man back down the stairs. The brothers moved around with their speed, making noise to cause confusion. Elena, another woman, and a man made their way into the stairwell to investigate.

"Up here." Stefan calls and the man runs up the stairs again at the sound of his voice.

"Down here," Damon says after shooting a stake through the man's hand as Stefan makes a move to grab Elena putting a hand over her mouth before she can make a noise in surprise.

"Excuse me" The man calls "To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think you can win. You can't" He yells as he breaks the makeshift stake after pulling it free. "I repeat, you cannot win. I am taking the girl, I will count to three or people will start dying. Do we have an understanding?"

Elena appears at the top of the stairs, offering herself up if he promises not to harm her friends. The man stands in front of her "Wise choice?" He moves to grab her but Elena throws a vervain bomb in his face, causing him to stagger back. Stefan shoots a stake at the man, which causes no damage. In a rush of rage, Stefan rushes the man, forcing both of them down the stairs. The man immediately rights himself, getting up even though Stefan remains down trying to stagger to his feet. As the man makes a lunge for Stefan, Damon stakes him through the back, hitting his heart. They watch as his face ashen and he falls motionless. Damon then tries to follow the woman who it trying to flee but is stopped by Elena's voice.

"Just let her go." She walks down the stairs, past Damon and into Stefan's arms who comforts her, asking if she is okay. Over his shoulder she mouths a 'thank you' to Damon who nods 'you're welcome.'

Damon drove the two back to the boarding house where Stefan and Elena got into another car and drove off. Elena wanted to clean herself up at home and Stefan refused to leave her alone. Damon climbed the stairs into the house to see Kate sitting in his chair reading a book, legs thrown over its arm. He grabbed a drink and sat on the floor leaning his back against the chair. Kate immediately started running her fingers through his hair causing him to lean further back. "How'd it go?"

"Fine." Damon sighed at the sensation, relaxing his shoulders "Elena is okay, a little shaken, but okay. Her and Stefan are going back to her house so she can relax and tell him what happened when she is ready. We killed the man who was holding her, but the woman got away." He explained, "I was going to after her, but Elena stopped me."

"Did you find out who they were? Or what they wanted?" She asked, continuing to read

"I just know he wanted to take her. We'll have to see what else she tells Stefan." She 'hmmed' a response "We didn't have the best bonding trip" He muttered as she grabbed her hand from his hair, interlacing their fingers and tugged her off the chair into his lap.

"Was it that bad?" She asked not putting up any sort of fight and settled into her new position, book closed and placed back on the chair.

"It was tense. He accused me of only going because I love Elena" He said contemplating Kate's reaction. He felt her tense a little but she made no move to get up "But the entire ride there, I didn't think about it that way. I kept thinking, what if it was you? If I tried to save you but lost because I was alone?" He confessed face buried in her neck, placing a soft kiss.

"What do you want Damon?" Kate asked, fingers back on their trail in his hair.

"I'm not sure." He started "I don't want this to be a one night stand, or fall back." He was silent, after that.

"How about we try with our separate worlds? In this one we put our energy into protecting this weird little family you have. I don't try to control you and you don't try to control me." She began, trying to offer a balance "And another world when we are alone. The problems don't affect us in there. We can talk as equals within the comfort of a bed."

"Are you suggesting friends with benefits?" Damon asked studying her serious expression, eyebrow cocked in mocking disbelief.

"I guess you can call us that, for lack of a better word. I just don't want our relationship, whatever that is, public." A flash of disappointment crossed Damon's eyes, but she didn't have time to study it as he kissed her. He continued to ravage her mouth as he leaned her back to lay on the floor. Damon settled himself between her legs, running a hand over her thigh and up her shirt. Kate arched her back at the feel of his skin against hers and went to pull his shirt over his head. Within seconds their clothes were thrown across the room and Damon entered her in one hard thrust.

"Fuck baby," Damon groaned between heated kisses and hard thrusts

"Harder Damon" Kate breathed out as she felt herself clench and her body heat.

"Not yet Kate" Damon growled slowing his thrusts "Not yet"

"Damon!" She groaned in frustration at his slower pace

"What is it, baby? What do you want?" His voice was husky and he firmly put a hand on her hip to stop her from finding extra friction making her groan again "Tell me"

"I want you to make me cum!" Kate growled "Please Damon, or I'm gonna kill you" nails biting into his back for emphasis

Damon laughed "All you had to do was ask" he teased and picked up his pace, driving them over the edge. Damon watched as Kate's back lifted off the ground and she let out a soundless scream, her nail digging into his back again. She was beautiful.

Damon lay with his head resting on Kate's chest, both sweaty and panting. He reached towards the couch and pulled a blanket over them "Just in case we get visitors" he laughed and kissed the tops of her breasts

"What did you do while we were gone?" He asked when he had successfully covered them both.

"I spared with the Gilbert boy" she stated and Damon laughed "He can pack a punch." She defended.

"Wouldn't that have been an unfair fight, you are a little fast for him"

"I slowed myself down to human pace and he got me pretty good. You should have seen his face when he finally landed a blow, then again when I put him on his ass as he was apologizing. Between that and this I am exhausted" She kissed him tenderly on the lips, rolling him off her and wrapping the blanket around her. "I am going to sleep, goodnight"

Damon had his pants back on and was refilling his glass as he heard Stefan come in "Where is Elena?

"Home" He answered

"So why are you here?" Damon continued handing Stefan a drink, who noticed the shirt Kate was wearing today was thrown over the pile of firewood.

"She wanted to be with Jeremy. What Rose told Elena about the curse…"

"I know," Damon interrupted sitting "We'll keep her safe."

"You know, the only way we're gonna be able to do that is if we're not fighting with each other. We let Katherine come between us. If we let that happen with Elena, we're not gonna be able to protect her." Stefan reasoned

"I have heard it before Stefan," Damon said, thinking to the woman sleeping upstairs, hoping she went to his bed.

"Damon," Stefan started softly, causing Damon to look at his brother "I'm sorry"

"About what?" Damon asked confused.

"For being the one who made you turn"

"Let's not Stef, it's late and we don't need to rehash that." Damon said wanting to avoid this conversation and get upstairs.

"You know what? I've never said it out loud. I guess I just need to say it and you need to hear it. I'm sorry. What I did was selfish. I didn't want to be alone. I guess I just needed my brother."

Damon downed the rest of his drink " and now you are stuck with me. Do you regret turning me now?" He stood up and walked out the front door. He ran and found himself outside of Elena's window, the light was still on. He climbed the tree and invited himself into the empty room, the only sound coming from the bathroom sink.

Elena came out of the bathroom and was startled by a voice "Cute PJs."

"I'm tired, Damon," She said not moving from the doorway.

"I brought you your necklace back," He said holding it up.

"I thought it was gone, thank you," She said appreciably and made a move to grab it from his hands as it dangled in front of him. Damon pulled it away before she could reach it. "Please give it back." Her tone changed to one of worry

"I have something to say."

"Why do you have to keep my necklace to say it?" She asked nervously.

"Because what I am about to say probably won't make sense, any I don't need you remembering it."

"Damon, let's not go here" She warned, assuming he was about to make a confession that would put a strain on their friendship, and her relationship with his brother.

"No, I need to say it. And someone needs to hear it. I was happy once, after Katherine, truly happy. But it was taken from me like so many other things. I thought I could be happy again when I met you if only you could see yourself happy with me. So I need to say it just once, I love you, Elena. Or at least I thought I loved you. And it is because of this I need to let you go. I do not deserve you, but my brother does. I do deserve to be happy; I've realized that again. And I think I found a way to make that happen." He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Maybe it would be easier if you could remember this, but that is not fair to you." So be compelled her to forget and when Elena opens her eyes her necklace is secured on her neck and Damon is gone, a slight breeze coming from the open window causing her to shiver.

Damon ran all the way home slowing as he approached the door and walked slowly up the stairs, rubbing his eyes and going into his room. He relaxed and smiled when he saw the sheet move, Kate turning away from the light of the hallway. He quickly stripped to his boxers and climbed in behind her, pulling her flush against his chest and breathing her in.

This is what he wanted. To come home at night and find her in his bed like he used to. He thought sullenly as he fell asleep, a feeling pulling at the back of his brain that it would not last.

 **I will keep on asking, please review, let me know what you think.**


	13. Chapter 13

**IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED, I HAVE A REVIEW! Thank you to that lovely stranger who took the time to tell me they loved my story, it made me smile, and I was having one hell of a day so it was a welcome surprise. Anyway, enough gushing from me and enjoy the chapter!**

Kate woke up to the offending sound of her ringing phone; she quickly detangled herself from Damon, pausing momentarily to brush some hair off his forehead with a smile before racing out of the room with it in an attempt not to wake him. "Bonnie?"

"Hey Kate, did I wake you?" She asked awkwardly

"No, no, what's up?" She asked entering the kitchen to retrieve some breakfast.

"I tried to replicate your request." Bonnie started, 'tried' was never a good sign "I did something wrong around the third step. I am sorry. I will try again, but I wanted to keep you updated."

"It's okay, thank you for trying Bonnie," She said massaging the back of her neck.

"How many do you have left?"

"Nine, including the one I gave you. I needed two when we dealt with Katherine, but I didn't need one yesterday." She said but could feel a pressure behind her eye "make that eight, I'll need one today."

"Shit," Bonnie muttered "I will be sure to read it through more closely before I try again"

"I appreciate it." Kate said "And relax Bonnie, things always get fucked up if you are stressed. Remember I have someone else working on it so it isn't all on you. And besides, I got my plan B"

"Right, the Plan B that you won't tell me about. That makes me feel loads better."

"Happy to help," She turned to see Damon enter the kitchen "thanks for calling." She said quickly and hung up. Damon wrapped her in his arms "I believe we are in the real world." She joked

"You weren't in our world when I woke up, so the real world will have to wait." He said simply while kissing her deeply, pulling her close. The microwave dinged and Kate broke away to retrieve her breakfast. "Who was on the phone?"

"Bonnie." She answered heading to her purse

"Any good news?" Kate shook her head, and Damon looked down at his coffee mug.

"It went wrong on the third stage, She said she'd try again."

"How many do you have left?" Kate popped a pill and held up 8 fingers. "Okay, we still have time." Stefan and the woman Damon recognized from the night before joined them a moment later. Damon's posture tensed and he was ready to strike, taking a protective step in front of Kate.

"Relax Damon, this is Rose, she is here to help. She has information about who wanted Elena. She was just the deliverer, not the one who wanted her" Damon did not relax, however, "I called Elena, she should be coming over shortly." Stefan finished and led Rose out of the kitchen.

"Who was that?" Kate asked

"One of the ones who took Elena" he walked out as the doorbell rang. She finished her mug and walked into the living room to see Elena had arrived and sitting on the couch. Kate gave her a small smile and asked if she was okay keeping Rose in the corner of her eye.

Kate took a seat and listened to the conversation "Okay, you have to understand I only know what I've picked up over the years and I don't know what's true and what's not true. It's the problem with all this vampire crap about Klaus, people tend to make up stuff and others refuse to believe any of it, but I know he's real." Kate's ears perked up at the name and she lost her breath for a second, no one noticed.

"Who is he?" Elena asked

"He's one of the originals, he's a legend" Damon answered, 'if only you knew' Kate thought

"From the first generation of vampires," Stefan clarified.

"Like Elijah?" Elena asked Kate's head whipped up, did she hear right? No, she couldn't have. Not now, not after all these years. Her mind was setting off alarms, pack and run.

"No. Elijah was the Easter bunny compared to Klaus. He's a foot soldier. Klaus is the real deal." Rose said, 'wrong' Kate thought, 'wrong, wrong', Her leg started to bounce and she glanced over to the door as if he was going to barge in at any moment.

"You ran into Elijah last night," Kate asked looking between Stefan and Damon, suddenly worried. She forced herself to take a deep breath to calm her nerves, she wasn't the same person she was, she was stronger.

"We killed Elijah last night" Damon gloated

"No," Kate said simply, her fist clenching "You didn't"

"Damon put a stake through his heart, he grayed and fell lifeless. He's dead" Stefan reassured Elena who suddenly looked as scared as she felt.

"Elijah is one of the originals," Kate clarified "He's just loyal to Klaus, which makes him come off as a foot soldier. You can't kill an original with an ordinary stake. I assure you, he is not dead. And he is pissed."

"How do you know?" Rose accused

"I have been around longer than you." She said glaring at Rose "I know"

"So the oldest vampire in the world is after me? And we killed one of them, but didn't kill him? So, what, he's going to wake back up?"

"We don't know that" Stefan assured "No one has seen Klaus, for all we know he isn't real and it is just a bedtime story"

"I do," Kate said again. "Elijah is not dead, and Klaus is real"

"And he won't give up until he gets what he wants" Rose added "If you aren't scared of Klaus then you're an idiot"

"Except Elijah, no one else knew you existed?" Damon asked

"I didn't tell anyone else" Rose answered

"So you may be fine, but we will be ready, be on our guard." Damon said Elena got up and nonchalantly left for school "Someone is in denial"

"Shut up Damon" Kate and Stefan told him.

Elena, however, did not go to school, she went towards the tomb with Caroline. "I'm pretty sure Stefan would not be happy with what we are doing," Caroline said cautiously as they got closer.

"Just tell everyone I went home sick." Elena offered

"I am a terrible liar, you know that!"

"And keep Stefan busy, he can't know that I came here"

"You are asking for a lot, I crack under pressure" Caroline argued

"You kept me occupied when Katherine was with Stefan."

"Well, she threatened me. Not that I'm condoning that tactic. But Stefan will see right through me." Caroline got worried

"You're my friend, just promise me." Caroline finally reluctantly agreed as they approached the church ruins, stopping in front of the door.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, She knows the truth about Klaus and can tell me how to stop him" Elena explained

"But she never tells the truth. Kate seemed to know, why don't you talk to her" Caroline offered.

"She wasn't offering anything and I don't know, I can't get a read on her."

"I like her," Caroline said pretty confidently

"She is a bit of a mystery, don't you think?" Elena offered "We don't know much about her, except she is hired to kill people, I mean she is friends with Damon."

Caroline stopped "What does that have to do with anything?" Elena looked at her, confused "Are you jealous" She laughed

"What! No!" Elena said quickly "I just mean if she is best friends with someone like Damon, what does that say about her?"

"She is also best friends with Stefan" Caroline argued. Elena waved her off and descended the stairs, Caroline opened the door to the tomb and Elena called to Katherine. After a few seconds, with some convincing, Caroline left Elena alone.

"Hello Elena, come to watch me wither away?" Katherine's voice asked as she stumbled toward the entrance, her hair was a mess and her dress was caked in dirt. "Stefan know you're here?"

"I brought you some things"

"Bribing me sounds more like it. What do you want?" Katherine asked

"I want you to tell me what you know about Klaus" Elena strongly said

"Hmmm, you've been busy"

Elena took out an old book from her bag "I brought you this. Your family history. It says the line ended with you, but obviously, it's not true."

"Aw cute, you think bringing a family keepsake will make me open up to you." Katherine joked, starting to walk back into the tomb.

"I also brought you this," Elena called taking out a bottle of blood, causing Katherine to rush the barrier at the smell. After some taunting Elena poured blood in a small cup and pushed it past the door.

Katherine started to tell Elena about her time in Bulgaria, having a baby and being sent to England in 1492, her family giving the baby away. "In England, I caught the eye of a nobleman named Klaus. He was handsome, wealthy, and I was taken with him until I found out he wanted to kill me. So I ran." She told Elena about running to Rose and Trevor and killing herself to complete a transformation.

"Why did Klaus want you?"

"He wants to drain the blood of the Petrova doppelganger to break his curse." Elena cringed "I don't know why you sat through this. Is Kate around still? She knows a hell of a lot more than she says."

Back at the house, Rose is crying as Damon walks in "Alright Rosebud. I need some answers." He asked grabbing a drink "Don't tell me you're crying cause your friend died?"

"Have you always been this sensitive?" Rose asked wiping her eyes "What does Kate see in you?" She taunted, causing Damon to pause at the drink cart.

"Full vampire switch for this very reason." He defended "Takes the emotions out of everything." Rose huffed, not believing him, she saw how those two looked at each other.

"Yeah, you switch yours and I'll switch mine."

"What are you insinuating?"

"Nothing, just observing. Being in love with her and not wanting anyone to know must be difficult"

"I'm not in love with anyone." He defended a little loudly. It was just the two of them in the house so he didn't feel he needed to remain hushed. Stefan was at school and Kate was familiarizing herself with Alaric's weapons and taking out frustration on a large sand filled bag at his apartment.

"You want to try that again? It was almost convincing." She challenged

"Don't get on my bad side"

"Then let me see your good side." She asked suggestively. Damon ignored her invitation

"How do I find Klaus?"

"You don't, he finds you"

"Oh come on, there is always a trail of 'I know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows how to find the boss."

"Add another two hundred someones and you may be closer."

"How did you get in touch with Elijah?"

"Through someone named Slater in Richmond, he's a bottom feeder."

"Fantastic, I'll drive." Damon offered, grabbing his keys. Just then Kate walked through the door as they were about to leave, a bag filled with some of Alaric's toys.

"Where are you going?" She asked shifting the bag up her shoulder.

"Rose has a contact that may be able to help find Klaus, we're gonna go see him find out what he knows."

"Great, let me drop this off upstairs and I'll come" Damon grabbed her arm before she could go further

"I don't think that is a good idea"

"Why not?" she scuffed

"It could be dangerous"

"I'm a centuries old assassin of the supernatural. I think I can handle talking to one guy Damon" Damon pulled her away from Rose, not like it gave them more privacy

"You've got eight left. I know what triggers you and I am not taking any chances."

"I'm not made of fucking glass Damon. But fine. Go on your little mission." She said angrily, ripping her arm away from his grasp. "Make the decisions on your own, because you always know better." She said, throwing the bag down and putting her headphones in her ears, running out of the house.

"You don't want to try and fix that before you go?" Rose asked, Damon, flipped her off and continued to walk out the door.

 **I hope you enjoyed it, stay tuned to see what happens next**


	14. Chapter 14

**My dear readers, please enjoy this new chapter!**

They parked in an underground lot and entered through the back entrance to avoid the sun. "How do you know if this Slater guy is even here?" Damon asked suspiciously

"I called him, he'll be here."

"Good," Damon pushed her against the wall "You better not double cross me, or I will rip your heart out and feed it to you."

Rose grabbed his arm and pushed him against the car "I am older than you, don't get on my bad side" She released him "You can trust me" They walked into the coffee shop where Damon noticed the double paned glass windows, stopping the UV rays from penetrating the room. She approaches a man sitting at a laptop "Slater" she greats

"I saw you come in, what are you doing here?" he asked

"It's a long story but I want you to meet…" she began but was interrupted by Slater spouting off facts about Damon. Rose tells Slater about what happened after she brought Elena to the house.

"So you say you killed Elijah?" Slater asked

"Nice and gray." Damon answered, "But I have a source that says he may not stay that way."

"From what I know that wouldn't be possible," Slater said.

"If someone wanted to contact Klaus, how would you find him?" Rose asked, getting back to the point

"Craigslist" Slater answered

"Really?" Damon asked, not believing him.

"Yup, I respond to an ad and it goes up the totem pole to someone who knows Elijah, that's where my connection ends."

Outside of the coffee shop, a man in an expensive suit stands on the opposite side of the street, listening to their conversation; learning that werewolves are present in Mystic Falls, and that is where he would find the doppelganger.

"Do you think we could render the moonstone useless? Stop the curse from being able to be lifted?" Damon asked curiously

"Probably, but why?"

"Tell me how" Damon threatened, ignoring his question.

"Why would I want to do something to piss off an original?"

The man throws a coin at the window, with enough force to cause the thing to shatter and light pours into the coffee shop. Slater and Rose scream in pain as their skin begins to burn. Damon covers Rose with his jacket and leads her out the back to the car.

"Who was that?" Damon asked

"Don't you understand? It's Klaus, you don't know him or what he is capable of, we're dead." Rose answered shaking in pain.

Elena was packing up from her visit with Katherine, who finished the last of the blood and had retreated back into the tomb. Elena turned around to see Kate standing at the bottom of the stairs, covered in sweat and staring at the open tomb. "What are you doing here?" Kate asks panting.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I was running and heard two identical voices talking to each other, and you know... curiosity." She shrugged looking at the open door to the tomb again trying to see through the darkness. She rushed to the door and stares inside, no sign of Katherine, but the scent that lingered around the entrance is fresh "It's risky coming to talk to her. She isn't known for her honesty." She turned around to face a tense Elena. "You are uncomfortable around me" Kate stated the obvious, feeling the tension that radiated off the younger girl thicken the air. "That's okay, you don't know me very well. But you are important to Stefan and Damon and they are important to me. Because of that, I will protect you, you can believe that."

Elena just nodded "The things Katherine said" She drawled out and Kate nodded.

"About her time with Klaus? Her baby? Her family?" Elena nodded "I guess she was feeling honest today because that is all true, Klaus is not a forgiving creature. He is dangerous and merciless when it comes to what he wants. No one who has crossed him as walked away unscathed. He does not just kill, he tortures. He is a serious threat, and should not be taken lightly." Kate warned as she placed her hands on the younger girl's shoulders "But we will protect you." Her voice firm, like it was the truest thing she could have said in that moment.

"And you will probably all die trying," Elena said

"We all have something we think is worth dying for" Kate answered

"How do you know so much? What else do you know?" Elena asked

"I am very good at research and I have been around a long time. For what else I know, I can't tell you. Even though I want to. Trust me" Kate answered looking down. "Stefan is going to be pissed"

"Don't tell him!" Her eyes going wide.

"Honey, he already knows." She said as Stefan appeared in the doorway "It's okay, I found her. No harm done" Kate stated, Stefan looked to Elena and the open tomb.

"Whatever she told you is a lie" He stated, seeing Elena's shaking form. "Listen to me Elena, she is a liar"

"There is nothing you can do Stefan" Katherine's voice returns "You always try to protect even when you must know it is pointless." Katherine shows them the moonstone.

"That's it isn't it? The ultimate lie? You spun this whole thing so we'd have to get the stone from you?" Stefan accused

"I didn't spin anything." Katherine started, "Elena came to me for answers, I saw no point in lying when the truth is so much worse."

"It's the truth Stefan" Kate agreed, Stefan ignored her

"No, you want to trade the stone for your freedom you crazy bitch"

Katherine just laughed "Freedom? Nope, you're wrong. I'm safe in here. No vampire will ever enter here because they can't get out. I am the safest bitch in town." She says as she retreats back into the tomb. "And he will be so excited when he comes, so much to look forward to," She said casually as she got further away, Elena and Stefan were both confused by that statement, but Kate's ears picked up the last part "He spoke about you often Kate."

Back at the house Damon and Rose are sitting on the couch talking, Rose expressing her want to save Elena and tells Damon he reminds her of her recently departed friend Trevor.

"It's right to fight the way you feel about her," Rose says after some silence.

"Why is that?" Damon asked

"Because you want to survive, you need to not care about anyone" She stated simply

"Caring gets you dead, huh?"

"It might be time to turn the switch off on your emotions," Rose said and Damon thought about how much shit caring got him into. How it worked out last time and how it may just be best to keep the one world, they had walked down this road before. He hated second guessing himself, he took the easy way out.

"I will if you will" Rose looked surprised at first but leaned forward to kiss him.

Stefan dropped Kate off at home before he dropped Elena off at hers, just in case she wanted him to stay. Kate waved them off, feeling bad about Elena's situation, she was trying to be optimistic, but she knew Klaus and she knew they would be doomed. She walked into the house to find the only light was coming from the living room, the soft glow of the fireplace.

Her sneaker covered feet padded across the wood floor and entered the living room to see Damon and Rose lying under a blanket on the floor. Damon had no shirt on and Rose was only in her underwear. Kate felt her jaw clench and the pressure return to her eyes, she closed her eyes for a second and muttered 'fuck this', too low for the two vampires to hear her.

She decided to make her presence known "Rose, I see you're still here" Damon's head whipped around to see two cold brown eyes staring at him. "Did you get what you were looking for today?" She asked feeling the double meaning behind her own words.

"We…" Rose started, swallowing her awkwardness "We ran into some trouble"

"I'm glad you're okay then." She stated. "Stefan went to drop Elena off at home, I am not sure if he will be coming home tonight. I'm gonna go get cleaned up, it's been a long day." She said coldly, turning on her heels and walking up the stairs, telling herself she will not cry.

Damon watched her go up, unable to say anything "It's a lie you know," She said quietly "There is no switch you can turn off. Sure when you're young but after a couple hundred years… you just end up pretending" Damon looked at her, processing her statement until her phone rang.

"Slater?" She greeted, "are you okay?" Damon listened to their conversation, trying to drown out the sound of running water upstairs. They could kill the curse, they just needed the moonstone and the help of a witch, that was great news! Damon thought as Rose hung up the phone.

Little did they know that on the other line Elijah was compelling Slater to feed Rose the information, then to kill himself.

Damon and Stefan walk through the woods towards the tomb in silence. "Kate seems a bit tense these past two days, do you know what's wrong?" Stefan asked Damon didn't answer "Is it because she is running low on those pills and Bonnie hasn't given another update?"

"I don't know Stefan," Damon said shortly, but he did know. He fucked up, again. He took the easy way out, to soften the knot in his chest that was made up of all the worry that surrounded Kate. But instead, he was filled with guilt. That night he walked into his room to find his bed empty and the little things she left lying around gone. Her capsules were no longer on her side of the bed, toothbrush no longer in his bathroom, not that he was surprised. What else would she have done when she got home? But Stefan didn't need to know that.

"She's quiet, spending a lot of time at Alaric's place with his boxing bag." Stefan tried again "Sleeping in the guest room"

"What are you saying, Stefan?"

"I'm just worried. I was hoping…"

"Let's drop it, shall we? We have other things to do" he said grabbing a side of the tomb's door, Stefan grabbing the other and opening the door.

"Well isn't it my two favorite brothers," Katherine said approaching the front "Please come in"

"I'd rather poke my eyes out" Damon answered

"Mmm, they are such pretty eyes. Kate is a lucky girl, getting to look into those in the morning." Damon growled slightly "Oh no, trouble in paradise? What a shocker."

"We're here for the moonstone" Stefan clipped

"Feel like tossing it over?"

"How about you get your witch to take this pesky spell off and you can have whatever you want." She said suggestively

"I thought you liked it in there? I believe you said you were 'the safest crazy bitch" Stefan teased.

"I've had time to reconsider"

"Meaning, you're hungry" Damon laughed

"Actually Damon, I'm starving, and dirty and bored." She said leaning against the wall "At least running from Klaus wasn't boring. So, you get me out, you get the moonstone and I leave this god forsaken town forever." She started walking away "Let me know what you decide, you know where to find me."

After their fruitless conversation with Katherine, they went to Elena's to tell her what Katherine was proposing.

"Do you believe her?" She asked, unconvinced

"No, but we want the moonstone" Damon answered

"According to Rose's friend, we can destroy the thing so Klaus can't use it" Stefan explained

"How do we destroy the spell?" Elena asked

"By releasing it from the moonstone." Stefan continued

"What does Kate say?" Elena looked to Damon who shrugged his shoulders "Well, do you think it will work?"

"We do have a pretty crafty witch," Damon said

"And you've asked Bonnie? Isn't she busy helping Kate?"

"How do you know?" Damon asked as Stefan looked at him confused

"Bonnie told me," Elena told them

"She said she'd help any way she could" Stefan clarified

"And how do we get it from Katherine?"

"Bonnie just needs to lower the spell long enough for one of us to go in, get it, and get out."

"Sounds like you have gotten it all planned out" Both boys smiled "I don't want you to do it."

"Come again," Damon asked annoyed

"Even if we deactivate the stone, Klaus will kill everyone I care about. Including the two of you." That made both boys flinch slightly.

"We can save your life." Stefan tried to reason.

"No" Elena stated and walked back in the house.

Damon took out his phone to text Bonnie anyway.

 **Hope you enjoyed it, and if I can make a suggestion and see Beauty and The Beast it was amazing.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Good evening my lovely readers, please enjoy this brand spanking new chapter**

After the boys left Elena went to the boarding house, it was time to take matters into her own hands she was done waiting around letting others put themselves in danger for her; when she entered she saw Rose coming down the stairs, wrapping a robe around her "It's not nice to leave a girl naked so early in the morning" She started until she realized it wasn't Damon "Oh! Sorry, I thought you were…"

"Oh!...I…sorry, I was looking for Kate, is she here?" Elena asked, averting her eyes.

"No, She hasn't been around," Rose said

"Okay, Actually, I think you could help me," Elena said, wheels in her head turning. Rose smiled, happy to be of some service and excused herself to put on some real clothes. After the girls were sitting on the couch and Elena talked through her plan.

"It's a bad idea," Rose said

"No, I don't think it is. Your friend Slater has more information about Klaus, you and Damon just gave up before you got it."

"That is because the shop blew up!" Rose argued

"But there is more, and we need to learn it"

"Why come to me with this?" She asked

"Well, I was gonna ask Kate, she seems to have ways to get information. But you do owe me. I could have let Damon and Stefan kill you." The two girls made a deal that would allow Rose to walk in the sun if she helped. Kate stood outside the door, catching the tail end of that deal and burst in.

"What are you planning Elena?" Elena jumped and Rose looked down

"Kate! Nothing! Just trying to do some investigating"

"Whatever you're planning could get you killed" Kate warned, "And if you cause those boys any more heartache by getting yourself killed, I will make your brother's life a living hell." Kate stared for another minute then walked up the stairs

"You know how you thought she'd help you?" Rose asked quietly, Elena nodded "I think you are shit out of luck on that. But you were right, she has her ways of finding out, and you are going to be screwed."

"I have to try," Elena said as quiet. Kate sighed from the top of the stairs and rubbed the back of her neck. Now she was going to have to tail Elena.

When Kate came back downstairs she heard a new group talking.

"I can lower the barrier long enough to get the moonstone and get out. Are you sure you're gonna be able to get it?" Bonnie asked

"She hasn't been feeding, she's weak, we aren't," Stefan said

"That's probably going to be as good as you can get," Kate said coming into the room. "It's not a perfect plan, but that doesn't exist."

"Let me do it, I've got my ring. I can get in and out with no spells"

"Your not gonna be fast enough Jeremy" Stefan reasoned

"There is a possibility you won't be able to do it either, she may be weak but she's got years on you," Kate said "I'll do it, I'm older and faster. I can get in, around her and out."

"No," Damon said and Kate give him a death glare, telling him to shut up

"Would you not need the spell either? You're not a vampire." Jeremy asked

"I am vampire enough, I wouldn't be able to get back out if I went in"

"You're not going in," Damon said again

"I seem to remember us having this conversation the other day. I'm not made of glass Damon. Get over it, you are not responsible for me" She glared at him and his nostrils flared.

"She has a point," Stefan said meeting his brother's gaze "She is faster."

"I may also be able to help better the plan, do you have anything of Katherine's," She asked the boys and Kate raised her eyebrows waiting for one of them to step forward. Damon motioned to Stefan.

Stefan came back into the room with a picture of Katherine "This belonged to Katherine, I got it from her things when I thought she was dead."

Kate shook her head, couldn't believe he still had it after all these years. Bonnie took the portrait and performed her spell, lighting the thing on fire and let the ashes fall into a bowl, Stefan didn't flinch as he watched the one keepsake of the woman from all those years ago turn to ash.

"What will this do?" Damon asked concern written all over his face, resting in his square jaw.

"If you blow the ash on her it will render her motionless for a minute or two, giving you extra time." She made a move to hand it to Kate who grinned at the creativity of the young witch.

"Bonnie?" She asked taking the bowl "How is my favor going" She asked

"It's going better than the first time" Kate nodded and put the ashes in an envelope and placed it on the table.

"I am going to outfit myself" She walked up stairs

"I gotta get the torches," Stefan said as Damon followed Kate up to her room. He stopped in her doorway, watching her stuff weapons into her combat boots and putting a stake in the back of her waistband

"Watching this always turned me on for some reason" Kate froze at his voice

"Go downstairs Damon" She warned putting her hair into a ponytail, back still to him.

"Come on Kate" He tried again "You haven't even looked at me in days." She turned to him and her eyes were cold, not even holding anger but disinterest.

"Happy?" He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair "We weren't together Damon, we were just sleeping together. But excuse me for being upset that you woke up with me in your bed one morning and went to bed with another woman. I will forgive you, Damon, I always do. But not today" She said pushing past him, he grabbed her arm

"I'm sorry, I fucked up. She was saying things. Accusing me of feelings and caring. I have a reputation to protect."

"Oh don't give me that shit! You got scared and caught up in yourself. I have a reputation too, and guess what? Caring or not, people still fear me." She yelled poking his chest "Your problem is that you don't know what you want!"

"I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Not good enough, I've been hurt enough so it's nothing new!" She yelled, he blurred her against the door and kissed her, lifting her off the ground, hand grasping the back of her head. She pushed herself off the door and used the momentum to knock him off her. "You don't have the right to do that. " She clarified, wiping her mouth on the back of her sleeve. "You should really check in on Rose, she is helping Elena make some poor decision" and walked out the door. A few seconds later Damon's phone rang and Rose's name flashed across the screen

She walked back into the parlor and noticed the envelope with the ashes were gone "Bonnie!" She yelled and the girl came out the kitchen at a run "Where are the ashes" She asked as Stefan joined them

"Where is Jeremy?" He asked

"Fuck!" Kate yelled and grabbed her keys rushing to the car with Stefan and Bonnie behind her.

When they got to the tomb they saw the moonstone sitting on the other side of the barrier, Katherine comes into view, lips covered in blood, she pulls out Jeremy, who is on the brink of unconsciousness "I'm sorry, I took the ashes"

"Don't worry, he's wearing his ring," Katherine says "So no matter how many times I kill him, he will come back, a never-ending food source. Excuse me as I go play with my new toy" She taunted as she retreated into the tomb.

Bonnie hastily sets up the torches to bring down the barrier "Where the hell is Damon" Stefan asks

"There is no time to wait for him" Kate answered.

"She's fed, she has her strength back," Stefan warned as he watched her prepare to enter.

"I am still older than her"

"But you haven't gained strength for a few days, you are running low…"

"Shut the hell up Stef" Kate clipped at him, Bonnie sits on the ground and starts chanting a spell from her book, clutching something in her hand. After a few moments, the torches flare and Katherine shows back up with Jeremy

"Oh look something's happening," She said

Kate pushed up her sleeves "And once it does, I'm coming for you Katherine"

"Bring it on"

"You have to stop her!" Jeremy says "She isn't strong enough" the flames get higher

"Maybe she is" Katherine mumbles, Bonnie's nose starts to bleed as she continues to chant, Stefan walking over to her with concern.

"You have to stop her!" Jeremy yells again, Bonnie's eyes rolled back. Stefan grabbed her arm and shook her.

"Bonnie…Bonnie, stop!" a second later she slumped, fainted. Kate stood upright and watched Katherine intently.

"Wake her up, I am still in here."

Bonnie's eyes fluttered open "I'm not strong enough, I can't do it."

"Pitty," Katherine said as she walked back with Jeremy

"No!" Stefan yelled and rushed into the tomb, grabbing Jeremy and tossed him out.

"Stefan!" Kate yelled and made to go after him until Bonnie grabbed her ankle. "What have you done!" She looked panic.

Damon arrived with Elena at her porch. He found her with Rose at Slater's apartment trying to give herself up. Some goonies of Klaus showed up to take her but were stopped by Elijah, stunning the three by not being dead; Rose did not stay long enough to find out what Elijah would do next. Surprisingly after saving the day Elijah turned and left as well.

"She didn't mean to run" Elena tried to defend

"Yes, she did. She has been running for centuries." Damon clarified "I can't believe Elijah is alive."

"Kate did say he wasn't going to stay dead," Elena said. "Why do you think he killed those two and then let us go?"

"If I had a dollar every time an evil vampire surprised me." Damon tried to joke. "You do know what you tried to do was extremely stupid?"

"Actually the only stupid thing I did was getting caught. How did you find us by the way?"

"Kate told me you were up to something, then Rose called."

"You all try to save me and expect me to not ask questions. Shouldn't I be able to do the same?"

"We've all been alive longer than you," Damon said simply as Jeremy opened the door with an anguished look. "What?"

"It's Stefan." He said simply

Back at the tomb, Kate was sitting cross-legged outside the door of the tomb, across from Stefan. "What were you thinking?" She accused

"I needed to get Jeremy out. Now you have the moonstone and Jeremy is safe again."

"I could have done that just as easily. You just went in without thinking. That is the problem with you Salvatores, taking action without thinking!" She growled

"Speaking of Salvatores, what is with you and Damon?" Stefan pried, getting a look from Kate.

"Is that what you really want to talk about? When you are stuck in there with Katherine?"

"What, is there something to talk about? Besides if you went instead of me you'd probably literally go crazy" He'd tried to joke.

"At least I'd be contained" She answered "Damon and I are complicated, we have always been. I shouldn't really be surprised."

"I'm sorry, you'll work it out. You are perfect together." Stefan answered

"Wish you were always on board."

"Yea, I'm sorry," Stefan said again looking down in shame, Kate shrugged. They both looked up at the sound of feet and a moment later Elena came running through the door.

"Stefan! Stefan!" Damon right behind her and Kate grabs her around the waist before she can run through the barrier.

"Don't you dare" She warned

"But he's right there" Elena pleaded

"Well so am I." Katherine said coming out of the shadows "Been here a few hours and you already have visitors. How lucky for you. Hello Damon, in the dog house already?"

"Fuck you Katherine" Kate responded, keeping Elena close to her so she can't go anywhere, she could tell the young woman was itching to cross the barrier to hold Stefan.

"How could you let this happen!" Elena accused

"Excuse me?" Damon said, "I was a bit busy saving you." Elena just looked at Kate.

"Don't you dare look at me like that"

"You didn't have to go after the moonstone!" Elena tried again

"It was the best move" Kate stood her ground

"How!" She yelled, starting to break down eyes glassing over in tears and Kate lead her out of the tomb.

"Out of all the idiot things Stefan," Damon said once the girls were gone.

"I know," He said, scratching at some loose rock on the wall.

"I will find a way to get you out"

"Kate vowed the same thing" Stefan laughed "But I can handle myself. Bonnie has the moonstone, work on getting that deactivated. Keep Elena away from here." Damon scuffed at the idea "Keep her safe for me, promise"

"Yea, I promise." He smiled and walked out of the cave.

 **Oh those boys, not thinking things through! I hope you enjoyed, and if you have a little time tell me so! Until next time**


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry for the long wait, please enjoy**

Damon got home to see Kate sitting with a large glass of tequila in her hands on the couch; he missed when she sat in his chair. "Today could have gone better," He said making his own drink.

"Mmmm" Kate answered taking a sip

"You were right." She looked up waiting for him to tell her what she was right about "Elijah is alive. Elena was trying to give herself up and he came in, killed some guys and left." He took a large gulp

"I told you so" She stated simply

"How did you know"

"I've run into him before." She said, still not looking at him. Her eyes fell onto the wall, regarding him no more than she had to. He could see how her eyes grew dark in the dim light, she wanted to yell at him but would not allow herself. He ran his hands through his hair, not sure what else to say. "How many do you have left?"

"Six Damon, I have six left," She said, getting up "Elena will probably do something stupid again, you may want to consider placing her under house arrest." and walked upstairs without saying anything else.

The next morning Damon was with Stefan, delivering breakfast "You trapped her in her house?"

"It was Kate's idea, she tried to hand herself over. It's only a matter of time before she does it again. I can't watch her constantly." Damon said "Be glad the witch and I are getting along"

"So it's just you and Kate in the house now? Gonna use the entire time to make up?" Damon laughed slightly.

"I wish, she still isn't talking to me"

"What did you do?"

"I may have slept with Rose a little"

"A little?"

"Okay, I slept with Rose. Twice. I fucked up"

"I'd hit you if I could" Stefan threatened "When I saw you two I thought you'd give it another try"

"We said we would not talk about it"

"I mean having that beautiful woman on you in the morning, why would you need anything else?" Stefan joked knowing Damon couldn't attack him

"I am serious Stef. I can starve you in there"

"Payback from the times I caught you staring at Elena."

"Yes, but I've never seen her naked"

"How are you two so calm when Klaus is hunting you down, preparing to kill you?" Katherine interrupted

"I've died before, I got over it." Damon said flatly "Once we figure out the moonstone we will get you out"

"Don't worry about me, Keep our girls safe," Stefan said smiling at the saying and walked back into the tomb.

After the tomb Damon went to Elena's, seeing Kate waiting on the front porch "Are you going to talk to me?"

"Yes," Kate said flatly "How was your visit with Stefan"

"It was good, we had some brotherly bonding," he said opening the door without knocking. The both of them walked into Elena's living room, joining her on the couch

"You should lock your doors" Damon joked

"You think this is funny?" She seethed

"Yes Elena, I find it hilarious that I have to lock you in your house and babysit you to stop your suicide tendencies."

"We are just trying to keep you safe," Kate said sweetly "It goes against our agenda if you try to get yourself killed."

"And what does Stefan have to say about this?"

"We had a good laugh," Damon said

"And what did he have to say about Elijah being alive?" Damon just shrugged "You didn't tell him?"

"Well, A. He can't do anything and B….well A. is enough" Damon explained

"If only you could take Kate's word for it. But nooo" Kate said they both looked at her "Sorry, I'm a little bitter about it. You know, been around a shit long time and no one takes me seriously."

Jeremy enters the room "Where is Bonnie?" Elena asked

"I thought she was with you?" He answered

"No, she's with the moonstone, and we are on Elena patrol" Damon answered as his phone rang "Ric, what's up?" Kate heard the other line of the call, apparently, Liz has declared Mason a missing person because a woman from Florida came by telling her that Mason never made it back. "Fuck. I gotta go to the Grill. You're on Elena patrol" He said to Kate who saluted him as he walked out.

"This isn't good if someone is looking for our once werewolf friend," Kate said turning on the TV. "Now is a great time to ask anything about me. I suggest you take it"

Jeremy and Elena looked at each other and both asked, "What are you?"

"If I had a nickel." She laughed and turned to look at them "I am part vampire. But before I got screwed up, I was 100% a Soul."

"And what is that?" Jeremy asked after a second.

Kate just laughed "A Soul is well, okay, um…whether you believe it or not everyone has a soul. Some people believe it's what separates from their body and goes to heaven after they die. I can't tell you if that is true. But it's the essence of a person, who they are to the core…what they are made of" She tried "It's hard to explain. It's easier to look at it for what I feed off of"

"You feed off people's souls?" Jeremy asked jokingly and looked horrified at Kate's look.

"You feed off people's souls?!" Elena screeched

"More like their memories. In a memory, you leave a piece of yourself behind that constantly relives it. Like blood, it can replenish itself, but I can also take too much from the person. I can observe a good memory, I've been told by the person that they feel a dark presence and have a case of fight or flight. But you can't do anything since technically I am in the past. I can also take your good memories and replace it with your worst nightmare in that situation." Kate tried to explain "Have you ever seen the animated Anastasia movie? It's kinda like when she is dreaming on the boat and it starts out nice but all goes to shit. This can be too much for some people and they can go crazy or become too disoriented and sometimes that's too much" She says looking at her hands. "For a certain amount of time after I may become connected to them, and if they die I feel it. That has only happened a few times." Kate finished

"So when was the last time you…" Elena started "fed?"

"After we dealt with Katherine at the party, Stefan offered. I would never ask for someone to do this for me"

"Does it hurt?" Elena sounded worried

"It doesn't have to, with Stefan I had him focus on a memory, sort of to invite me into. Then I just observe, I don't change things. I tend to use this when I work and want information from people, then I pick and pry into their mind and torture their memories."

"Damn," Jeremy said. "Can you show me?" Kate's eyes shot to his

"I just told you I can use my feeding as a way to torture people, and you are inviting me in?"

"I'm curious" he shrugged "And I know you won't hurt me"

"Curiosity killed the cat" Kate smiled

"Jeremy, I don't know if that's a good idea," Elena warned

"I'll be fine" he assured and sat in front of Kate "What do I do?" she sat silently for a moment and then placed her hands over his temples

"Focus on a happy memory, keep it simple. And look at me. I won't mess with anything, you will feel a dark presence be sure not to panic." In a flash, Kate's eyes mirrored Jeremy's, a different shade of brown. Then after a few moments of tense silence, they returned to her own color and she dropped her hands, new color in her face. "Don't get up to fast, Elena if you have chocolate, it helps" Elena ran to the kitchen and came back with some chocolate chips, handing them to a dazed Jeremy "You'll want to eat some."

"How do you feel?" Elena asked

"Weird, not bad, just weird. Like I am in slow motion."

"It will go away" Kate assured

"So, what happened? How did you become part vampire?" Elena asked

"A very long time ago someone was curious about what would happen if they tried to change me. And well, this is what happened" Kate said motioning to herself "I craved blood like a regular newborn at first, but gained control faster than a regular vampire. Drinking it helps with my strength, but doesn't completely satisfy me. The soul thing puts me where I need to be, so to speak."

"Who tried to change you?" Jeremy asked, Kate looked uncomfortable and started opening and closing her mouth trying to say something.

"I physically can't tell you," She said "I'm sorry"

"What about walking in the sun?" Elena asked trying to move on.

"I don't burst into flames, just a slow roast" She joked "I'm sensitive to it" She moved her hair to show off an earring in her cartilage with a blue stone.

"It's so small," Elena said, getting a closer look "I would have thought it would have been one of your rings"

"This is easily overlooked" She shrugged "and when you are stuck with a piece of jewelry forever you gotta make sure you're gonna like it. So many women choose necklaces, like come on you are going to get sick of wearing that thing in a year."

"Vervain?" Jeremy asked

"You drank that lemonade at the picnic." Elena remembered

"There is vervain in the capsule I take, it has helped me build a tolerance" They heard a noise coming from the hall closet and went to discover Jenna rummaging through some boxes.

"Jenna, what are you doing?" Elena asked she asked as Jenna gave her a box.

"I'm looking for your mom's files from the historical society. Mrs. Lockwood roped me in" She said begrudgingly "Not that I am not very excited" Kate squinted her eyes, something was wrong, that smell she knew that smell, Jenna closed the closet door to reveal Elijah on the other side. His scent hit her like a truck then, fine clothes and cognac filled her lungs almost making her dizzy. They're eyes met, Kate's horrified and Elijah gently smiled at her.

"Katharine?" he said slowly, confusion flowed from his lips.

"It's Kate." She spat back "What are you doing here Elijah?"

"Elijah is in town doing research on Mystic Falls." Jenna answered, "You know each other?"

"From along time ago." Kate spat out, moving slightly in front of Elena.

"Would you like to stay here and rummage through this stuff or we can help you get it to your car?" Jenna offered, Kate holding Elena's hand behind her back when she noticed the girl was shaking.

"I can get someone to pick it up tomorrow" Elijah answered "Thank you for inviting me into your home, Jenna, Elena….Kate" The last name rolling off his tongue.

"Hope to see you again soon," Jenna answered as he walked out the door.

The two girls run upstairs to check on Jeremy when Elijah appears just in front of his door, he looked exactly as she remembered, tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair to match his dark eyes, and a straight mouth to show his seriousness. Kate puts herself right in front of Elena again, crouching slightly.

"Get out of here Elijah" She growled lowly

"I don't think you want to do that Kate." He said evaluating her posture "I would hate to have to hurt you." Elena put her hand on Kate's shoulder and steps around her. "Wise choice"

"What do you want?" Elena asked, Kate not relaxing by the younger girl's side.

"I think it is time we had a little chat" Elena walked into her room with the two vampires following her. "Forgive the intrusion, I don't want to harm your family"

"Why did you kill those vampires the other day?" Elena asked, getting to the point

"Because, I didn't want you to be taken to Klaus, he is the most feared and hated of the originals. If word gets out that the doppelganger exists those who are searching for his approval will be eager to take you to him. I can't have that."

"Excuse me?" Kate spat "When did you start going against Klaus? Isn't that what you were trying to do when you had Rose take Elena?"

"Let's just say my goal is to not break the curse" Elijah explained, "Klaus' obsession has made him paranoid, he only trusts those in his immediate circle."

"Like you?" Kate said

"Not anymore," Elijah answered lowly, looking into her eyes, Kate scuffed.

"But you want to draw him out? And you are going to use me to do that?" Elena concluded

"I can only do that if you stay here and stop trying to get yourself killed."

"How do I know you aren't lying?"

"If I were" Elijah stepped forward with a menacing glare "Your entire family would be dead and I would be taking you to Klaus, Kate would put up a good fight, but she would fall as well. Instead I would like to offer you a deal."

"Oh hell no," Kate said stepping forward as well

"Still have that fire?" Elijah asked with a hint of a smile.

"What kind of deal?" Elena inquired, ignoring the other two

"You do nothing. Live your life, stop fighting and then, when the time comes you and I will draw Klaus out. And I will make sure your friends and family remain unharmed."

"Elena this is not a good idea." Kate warned

"And then what?" Elena asked, ignoring her making her groan in frustration

"I kill him"

"Just like that?" Kate asked

"I am a man of my word" Elijah said simply

"Well I can't argue with that." Kate responded

"Elena, when I make a deal, I keep the deal. What do you say?"

"Kate, can you leave us?" Kate looked at Elena like she grew two heads.

"What?! No!" She growled, looking at Elijah "If you are prepared to make a deal with this devil I am going to be a witness."

"I can protect everybody that matters to you" Elijah pushed

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Kate's cold tone caused Elijah's form to stiffen slightly.

"I need you to do one more thing for me."

"Are we negotiating?" Elena nodded

 **Ohhhhhh I hope you have enjoyed the latest chapter, please if you have the time leave a review! Until next time.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Happy Lazy Sunday my readers, please sit back and enjoy**

The three of them went to the crypt to open the door to the tomb, the sound of grinding stone penetrated the darkness and moments later Stefan and Katherine appear at the entrance "Elijah" Katherine said, shrinking back.

"Good evening Katerina. Thank you for having the good sense to be frightened." He then looks to Stefan who is looking back at Kate and Elena "Your release has been requested".

"What have you done?" Stefan asked neither girl backing down from his hungry gaze, dark eyes flicking from one woman to the other.

"The lovely Elena drives a hard bargain. However, we reached a peaceful agreement. So please." He motioned for Stefan to leave the tomb, stepping to the side.

"I can't" he replies, not even trying.

"You can, I have had the spell lifted." Stefan slowly walks out and once he passes the threshold he wraps Elena in his arms, overcoming his natural need for what lay underneath her skin. Katharine rushes out too but is blocked by Kate, turning around she faces Elijah.

"However, you will stay in there until I say so. When Klaus comes he'll want to know where you are." Elijah compelled Katherine as she walked back in the tomb. "You can go, Elena and Kate will explain the rest of our arrangement. Elena, if you keep your word, I will keep mine."

"Goodbye Katherine," They say before they exit the tomb.

Kate stayed behind for a moment "I don't want you just popping up Elijah"

"I have to keep an eye on Elena, it is part of our deal. And since she cares about you, I am to keep you safe as well." He said

"I can take care of myself" She spat and walked out of the crypt

They arrived silently at the boarding house as the moon was making its way high in the sky. When they entered they discovered Damon drinking in the living room, his body tense. "What's going on?" Kate asked as they entered the room, Damon looked up at Stefan with confused relief.

"How did you get out?" Damon began but cut Stefan off before he could answer "There's actually no time for that right now. I may have done something stupid."

"What did you do?" Stefan asked slowly getting worried

"You remember how I was on the phone with Alaric earlier?" He asked Kate and she nodded "And he said some chick was at the Grill asking about Mason?" She nodded again slowly

"What did you do Damon?"

"I may have tried to find out if she was a wolf, not very tastefully. We'll apparently she is and I kinda pissed her off when I told her I killed Mason." Damon answered downing his drink

"You what?!" They a screamed at him

"Not the time for scolding me, because if you haven't noticed, it is a full moon. And I would bet a lot of money that she is gonna make an appearance"

"Shit" Stefan started "I gotta get Elena out of here" He started to lead her to the door when the window shatters and a large gray wolf lunges into the living room. Stefan immediately gets Elena behind him as the wolf looks between the three vampires, baring her teeth.

"Be careful of its teeth, it's deadly to vampires," Kate said as she crouched down. Upon hearing her voice the wolf lunged at her, snapping her jaws. Kate met her in the air and slammed her elbow into the side of the wolf's face. "She can't kill me." She said as the wolf started to get back up, ready to pounce again.

"Don't you dare Kate" Damon warned pushing her out of the way of the wolf again, nearly getting bit.

"Don't be an idiot Damon," Kate yelled as she lunged for the wolf and forced them both back out the window. Damon started to go after her when Stefan grabbed his arm.

"That wolf can kill you, Damon. Listen to her, she will be fine."

Outside Kate and the wolf were circling each other "I don't think you want to do this with me" Kate warned and the wolf growled back running toward her. Kate vaulted over the wolf, landed on her other side and slammed her foot into its ribs, hearing the crunch of bone. The wolf let out a whimper and lashed out with its claws, trying to spin away but the nails raked across Kate's back as she screamed in pain before then blocked out the sensation.

Kate eventually got the wolf in a chokehold and was about to break its neck when the wolf bucked her off and bit her shoulder. The pain was blinding. Scorching through her veins, but she couldn't let it cripple her. She drove her fingers in the wolf's eyes, causing it to release her jaw with a yelp. In a flash Kate made a grabbed for the wolf's foreleg, snapping the bone at the elbow. Kate went for the wolf's neck one more time, but her strength was failing, she was seeing stars and stumbled away before regaining her footing. The wolf began to sink away, losing dominance and confidence at her ability to win this fight and in a moment turned and limp back into the woods.

Kate was short of breath as she fell to her knees, her back felt warm, the adrenaline's numbing effect wearing off. Her hand twitched at the sensation of warm blood trickling to her fingers. There was a blinding pressure behind her eyes and her face was tightening. "All clear" She yelled, spitting up blood.

Damon was by her side in a second "Oh shit." He said under his breath when he saw her "I should have never let you go out here" He quickly picked her up and brought her back inside as she let out a feral growl. He looked into her eyes and saw that they were dilated with a purple ring around the pupil, slowly growing larger. "Stefan!" He yelled blurring into the living room with the girl in his arms. _No, No, no, not this, not now_. Damon chanted in his head.

"Oh god," Stefan said quietly as he saw Kate's state.

"Where is her purse?" Damon asked hastily, his eyes going wild with worry, searching for help.

"uh…" Elena stammered "She…She left it at my house"

"Fuck, there is no time to get it," He said taking Kate to the dining room as she began to thrash in his arms.

"My back is on fire!" She yelled out "It burns!" He had to tighten his hold as she attempted to reach for her wounds.

"I know baby, I'm gonna make it better" Damon said to her softly then looked up at Stefan and Elena "Stefan her black bag, in her bedside table drawer" His brother blurred up the stairs "Elena, clear the table" Elena ran to the table and swept its contents on the floor. He was functioning on auto pilot, he knew what he had to do and he had to do it as fast as possible.

He barely noticed the sound of the front door opening and a pair of heels clicking on the hardwood floor leading up to the appearance of Caroline with a big smile on her face. "You will never guess what happened…" She began, her story falling from her lips as the blond saw what was unraveling before her. "What happened?"

"Kate got really hurt fighting off a werewolf," Elena answered as Damon laid Kate on her stomach on the table. Kate was thrashing wildly, trying to claw at her back.

"It fucking hurts!" Kate yelled again, the purple of her eyes taking up more of her iris. "Let go of me!" She yelled as Damon made to restrain her before she could cause any more damage.

"Caroline, hold her legs down," Damon said as Stefan came down with the small bag, driving the young woman from her frozen position in the doorway. "Stefan her arms" Stefan moved fast, handing Damon the bag and took his place holding Kate's arms against the table. Damon quickly opened the bag and carefully laid out a jar, needle, thread, a smaller bottle and a syringe. "Elena come hold this" Damon commanded in a robotic tone as he opened the jar and handed it to Elena. Damon ripped the back of Kate's shirt and moved it off her shoulders, exposing five large scratches and a festering bite on her shoulder.

"She's gonna be okay right?" Elena asked worriedly, studying her blood smeared skin and searching Stefan's eyes for reassurance "She said a bite from a werewolf won't kill her"

"No it won't kill her," Stefan said trying to keep Kate down, his tone held as much worry as Elena felt, _there are worst things than death_ , she thought.

"Don't be so vague Stefan. There are worst things than death." Kate's voice cut through the momentary silence voicing the thoughts running through Elena's head. "And we would hate for that to happen, wouldn't we? Another wild card floating around?" Kate taunted in a voice that didn't seem her own it was sultrier and dark. Caroline and Elena looked at each other before looking at the brothers who did not appear startled by Kate's sudden change, Stefan remained silent and Damon continued to prep the materials.

"You're gonna be fine Kat Nip," Damon said, trying to calmly address the bite mark first. He needed to keep a cool head he reminded himself as he reached into Kate's boot for her knife. "This is gonna hurt like a bitch, do you want something to bite on?"

"I can think of something I'd like to bite on" She growled and Damon cut off a piece of festering skin causing her to let out a muffled scream. Caroline momentarily loosened her grip at the unexpected jerk of strength, earning a look from Damon.

"Sorry" She apologized "maybe a little warning before you go all butcher on us next time."

"Fuck you," She growled quietly, nostrils flaring.

"I'm sorry honey, I didn't catch that," He taunted.

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked, holding down Kate's legs tighter as the woman squirmed.

"I have to cut off the decaying skin, otherwise it will spread and keep causing her pain," He said, quickly cutting off another piece, causing Kate to jerk against her restrainers again.

"It's okay Care," Kate said, her voice normal but laced with pain. "He knows what he's doing," Another piece came off and Kate jerked with almost too much strength this time for Stefan to handle.

"Fuck Stefan! Hold her still!"

"I can't she's too strong."

"Even drinking a little human blood here and there and you can't hold her down?" Damon accused, as Kate almost broke free again. "Fuck, switch places with me" Stefan looked at him not sure if he was serious "You know what to do, so do it." He commanded, switching places with his brother to look into Kate's eyes. Her face was a little less tense, but her eyes were hard and her forehead was covered in sweat.

"It hurts Damon" She whispered before screaming into the table as Stefan cut off another piece

"I know baby, it'll be over soon. That's the last cut." He assured "But I need you to look at me honey" Kate struggled to get her face up to look at Damon's ice blue eyes.

Stefan took some green herbal paste form the jar Elena was holding and started to slather it into her shoulder, making Kate hiss in pain. When she opened her eyes they were hard again and she gave a sickening smirk.

"I'm surprised Damon, you wanted to rip his eyes out for seeing me. But now you're letting him run his hands over my naked back," She chuckled breathlessly. "Aren't you afraid I'll end up liking it? He is very gentle," Stefan poked the threaded needle into her skin to start stitching her up, with a little too much force. "Oh! Maybe not so gentle. I like that too, don't I Damon?" Elena and Caroline looked between Damon and Stefan who just remained focused on his task.

"Kate, Honey? I'd watch what you say before I take some of that paste and shove it down your throat." Damon growled "Okay cupcake?"

"What the hell?" Elena asked, trying to wrap her head around what came out of Kate's mouth about Stefan.

"She is just saying things to cope with the pain. Taking someone's worst fears and turning them on the person" Stefan clarified in a hurried tone, moving on to apply the paste to Kate's scratches.

"Yea, like Stefan being scared that he was actually turned on and scared he was starting to see me as a woman," Kate asked again, craning her head to lay her hot eyes on the man hovering over her. "Fantasize about me lately?" She purred. She hissed again as Stefan put on more of that accursed green stuff on her back. Her head went down for a second and flashed back up, eyes sorrowful, brown trying to push through "Oh god! I am so sorry!" She tried to look at Elena "I don't mean it!" and looked into Damon's eyes "Damon, I don't mean it."

"I know," He said trying to sound as gentle as possible. "Let's just get through this" Stefan made it to the last abrasion with the paste when Kate convulsed, arching her back off the table and almost throwing Caroline off her legs. Kate's fangs descended and her eyes flashed a hard, hot, purple "Kate! Focus! Stay in control!" Damon said "I know you want to shut down and take the easy way out but you gotta fight it! Where is my pain in the ass fighter?" The group could hear the begging in his voice, how it almost trembled under his control.

Kate closed her eyes and concentrated hard, her fangs retreated and she met Damon's gaze again. "Good girl. You're almost done" He said looking at Stefan "Come on Stefan hurry up!"

"There is a lot of damage, I'm going as fast as I can!" He picked up the needle and thread again and started stitching her up. He worked fast, earning a few more outbursts from Kate, that she'd kick Caroline's pretty little teeth in so she wouldn't have the trouble of choosing Tyler or Matt, and that She'd take all of Jeremy's happy memories and watch as he became a shell of himself. Stefan finally cut the thread and tied the last knot, grabbing the syringe and nodding at Damon as he filled it with the vial's contents.

"You're all done honey," Damon said quietly.

"No, Damon, I don't like this part," Kate said breathlessly.

"I know honey, but you have to sleep through the rest of it." Damon said sadly "I will be here when you wake up."

"But what if it isn't me when I wake up?"

"That only happened once, you'll find your way back to me. You're a fighter" He urged, squeezing her hand to tell her he would be right here.

"If I don't" She began, voice remaining serious, eyes searching the man in front of her. "Remember what you promised me".

"It won't be necessary, you'll come back, you always do." He nodded to Stefan who injected the syringe into the side of her neck and backed away. Kate instantly relaxed as Stefan led the two other girls out of the room, giving his brother some privacy.

"You gotta come back to me Kat nip. I'll be here when you wake up and we can spend the entire day in bed. And I promise you'll rest… a little." She grinned at him as her eyes began to close "I won't hurt you again, just come back to me." He could hear her heart slow and her breathing even. Damon stood and applied bandages to her back, he scooped her up carefully and walked past the three onlookers to take her to his room where she could sleep.

 **How are we all doing? That was a little touch and go for a while, wasn't it? I hope she is okay, am I right? But the plot thickens doesn't it? Any reviews would be much appreciated! I would like to thank those who have taken the time to let me know they enjoy the story. It has brightened my day!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I hope you are settled by the drama of the last chapter and are ready for this one. Please enjoy chapter eighteen. I thought about breaking this up into two chapters but I know how frustrating it can be to wait and then only have a few hundred words to read.**

After a few moments of silence, Caroline could not hold it in anymore "What the hell was that?"

"Is this part of her not being entirely a vampire?" Elena asked quietly, watching the spot where Kate laid in pain moments before. Stefan nodded in response "What was happening?"

"Did she ever tell you what she was?" Stefan asked

"A Soul? She says she feeds off of people's good memories and can replace them with their worst nightmares."

"She normally feeds by placing her hands against your head, she doesn't need to do that, all she has to do is look in your eyes. She does it to ease, or in some cases increase their panic, of the person she is feeding off of. She can draw on the person's feelings in a happy moment, sharing it with them. In some instances, she can take the memory by turning it into the person's worst nightmare. However, when she makes contact she experiences that person's hurt until the connection ends and she takes on a dark part. She told me once that it was like everyone's worst nightmare came together in her and has a silver tongue, coaxing her to cause pain." Stefan explained with a small smile.

"When she was changed that part was magnified, harder to ignore. It's like a war is raging in her brain every day." Damon's voice interrupted Stefan's explanation "When it gets strong she gets headaches and if her will is not strong enough she will give into that part of her. When she is in pain it is that much harder to fight because she cannot focus. It is sort of like the switch vampires have but more malevolent, taking pleasure in torturing people." Damon walked over to the drink cart and poured himself a large glass.

"So what you did to her stopped that from happening?" Elena asked

"The pills she normally takes will control that part of her when the stress and pain make it too difficult to do it herself. What we did today was a more concentrated version of that. When she starts to lose the fight because of pain the witches made a paste for her to apply directly to the wound and then sutures to sew it up."

"But she seemed to be in more pain when you were trying to help her," Caroline asked, pouring her own drink.

"She told me it was like every nerve in her body was sizzling and her blood turns to acid." Damon said looking tired "She thinks it's punishment for the pain she has caused."

"What did you give her at the end?"

"A very powerful sedative, it allows her to sleep while she rests." Stefan said "It's sort of like a coma until her body is ready"

"Why don't you give that to her first?" Caroline shrieked, feeling the pain was unnecessary.

"I did that once." Damon said sullenly "She did not wake up as herself. When she finally came back she told me that when she was sleeping she was the one being tortured. She told me the other side won because she could not fight back." Elena went to sit on the arm of Damon's chair, resting her hand on his shoulder. She had never seen him so worried and angry that he could do nothing but wait for Kate to wake up.

"So what happens now?" Elena asked quietly as Damon looked at her, unsure how to accept the comfort.

"Now we wait." He said in a low huff "We have to wait for her body to heal and hope she comes back as herself. Because if not, we have a new problem" In a burst of frustration he threw his glass against the wall, making everyone jump. "I hate what she goes through and not being able to do anything! I hate watching her seethe in pain and hearing her scream and know that in the moment what I am doing to help is causing her more pain. I hate what she says when she begins to lose the fight, even though I know she does not mean it. I hate having to wait!" Elena cautiously brought her hand back to his shoulder.

"She knows you are helping her." She tried to say calmly

Damon huffed again and got up, brushing away Elena's comfort to get another drink. He looked at the dining room and made his way to start putting the things back on the table. Stefan walked over to him and stopped his brother from cleaning looking into his frantic eyes he placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing in comfort. "Go upstairs, she will want you there when she wakes up. I got this" Damon surveyed the area again then nodded, walking back up the stairs.

"How many times has he had to do that?" Caroline asked, watching Damon disappear from the room

"Too many" Stefan answered, wiping the stray blood from the dining room table.

"How long is she normally out for?" Elena asked, moving to help her boyfriend

Stefan stopped what he was doing "I don't know" He confessed "I've only helped once and I didn't stay too long after"

Hours past and Damon remained locked in his room, waiting for Kate to wake up. He refused to leave her alone, fearing the worst would happen. When he first brought her upstairs he carefully changed her clothes to something clean and more comfortable, keeping her back bandages exposed. He laid her on her stomach and watched intently to make sure she did not roll over. When Stefan sent him back up he grabbed a bowl of warm water and a washcloth to clean the dirt off her face and blood off her back.

When she was clean and under his covers he sat in the chair next to his bed and waited. Caroline came up once with a mug of heated blood "How is she doing?" She asked looking at the girl she thought of as so strong look so small. Damon took the mug gratefully and held it in his hands.

"It's hard to say. She flinches every once in awhile, but I can't tell how much pain she is in." Caroline pulled a chair up next to him.

"Why don't you take a quick shower, try and relax." She offered "I will watch her" Damon looked at her and after a few moments of silent staring he got up and walked into his bathroom.

When he returned he looked less tense, but silently resumed his perch next to Kate. Caroline did not leave like he expected.

"Stefan said you've done this a lot." She said quietly "Is it always so awful?"

Damon nods "It kills me to look in her eyes and see how scared she is. And the worst part is that she is not even scared for herself. She is afraid of how she'd hurt others."

"But she tortures people for work."

Damon smirked and let out a bit of a laugh "Yea, it's hard to understand"

"How long does it take for her to wake up?"

"Few hours"

"It has already been six" Caroline pushed

"Few more" He clipped "I don't really pay attention to the time. It always moves slower."

"How do you do it? And do it so often?" Damon looked at her a little confused

"I just need to" Was his only answer

"It is nice to see how much you love her" Damon stared at her harder, taking in what she was saying "It's pretty obvious Damon. You're always looking at her, making sure she is safe when she really can take care of herself. I have never seen you so worried about anyone." Caroline elaborated, "It's easy to tell that what you've had in the past, whatever it was, was more than just sex. Do you mind if I asked what happened"

Damon looked down and reached into his shirt, taking out the dog tags he wore. He pulled them over his head, shuffled through the metal and handed it to Caroline, not taking his eyes off Kate. In Caroline's hand with the tags was a small silver ring with a small amethyst in the middle. "Damon?" She started, trying to form the question.

"We were engaged once." Damon started, Caroline's eyes whipping to his direction and mouth falling open. "I know, hard to believe. Kate and I met when I was a soldier in the civil war and she was a nurse. I was hurt and brought to the medical tent unconscious where she tended to me. I woke up and she was sitting by my bedside, I thought I saw an angel. We became close, but she always kept me at arm's length. I invited her to my home on our leave, hoping to court her. I had no luck" he let out a laugh "But we remained friends and then I was blinded by Katherine. Twenty years after I was turned I ran into Kate in the streets of Boston. I couldn't believe it, I thought I saw a ghost. So I followed her into a bookshop, she caught on and surprised me instead. She was pissed about Katherine, but was overjoyed since she thought I was dead."

"What happened?" Caroline pushed

"We kept our friendship for a while, traveled together every few years. We would sleep together when it was convenient than the trips became longer and more frequent. Until eventually we were living together for a few years, in a little villa in Italy. I loved her so much and eventually proposed to her, she looked so happy when I placed that ring on her finger." Caroline looked at the ring with a smile, trying to imagine Damon asking a woman to marry him.

"I bet her dress was beautiful." Damon's smile fell

"We never made it to the alter. I reached out to Stefan to be my best man. I was getting married and I wanted my brother there with me. No matter how much I told him I was going to make his life miserable. He was on one of his ripper binges and when he came to Italy he was not his normal pleasant self. One night when I got home I heard Kate and Stefan arguing then Stefan stormed out, muttering me luck." Damon's eyes were getting glassy and he took a big sip of his drink "Kate barely looked at me that night, I knew something was wrong. But I didn't push. When I woke up in the morning she was gone and the ring was on the nightstand. I didn't go after her. I didn't see her after that until she sat in our living room"

"Why didn't you go after her?" Caroline quietly

"I don't know. I was so angry that she left me. I knew it was something Stefan said, but in that moment I hated her. I hated that she gave up, I hated that another woman hurt me. But, part of me thought I didn't deserve her. That it was better for her to leave because I would have screwed it up anyway like I always do."

"Do you know what happened with Stefan that made her leave?"

"Do you really think I talked to my brother about that?" Damon asked shortly. Caroline gave Damon his tags back, watching him slip them back over his head and tuck it under his shirt.

"You should talk to her, maybe try again." Caroline said getting up "I may not like you very much, but you deserve to be happy. And you two are good together, she can kick your ass when she needs to." Damon smiled at that and Caroline left him alone with the woman he loved.

 **Shocker! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, any feedback would be appreciated, please.**


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